As Latin American markets stay on course leading growth of new properties, with sales of machines and systems also at the forefront, two markets have gone to the dogs. While the Venezuela government just sends the police and judiciary to close bingos and full casinos based on questionable regulations, Ecuador has gone one better and carried out a President-led plebiscite that yielded marginal approval to enable the Executive to close casinos, bingos and slots parlours throughout the country in truly Cromwellian fashion.

At long last, Bolivia has regulated its gaming industry, albeit with heavy tax impositions that include a levy on players’ win; and whilst Brazil, with a brand new lady president, toys with the idea of casino legislation in the country, it is still a matter of seeing and believing as the country manages best regional growth and has no need to legislate casinos to balance budgets or promote tourism.

Further South, Paraguay opened tenders for ten casinos throughout the country, including one in Asuncion the Capital City, three times, and had to cancel every time as the documents were poorly drawn. The head of the local regulating agency resigned amid claims of personal threats, and six months later Conajzar still has no president and no tenders. There are some voices saying that a fourth improved tender for the same concessions is being prepared.

THE STARS
Two countries continue the regulated upward trend in the region, as the markets mature and investments bring reasonable returns. Operators in Peru and Colombia are managing to sustain a level of compliance, after years of quasi legal gambling, and while the former is more settled and has legislation mandated to install online slots control in all the operations in the country, certainly during 2012, the latter is getting its house in order with a new regulating body replacing the misfiring ETESA agency, which is in a liquidation process. There are in excess of 1,000 slots operations between the two countries.

The 15 new casinos in Chile, under the 2005 Casino Law, continue an upward operating trend, with three additional new casinos under this law in the process of being built. The casino law has a provision for 24 casinos in the country (excluding properties in Arica border city), including 7 municipal casinos, which should go up for grabs by 2015. At present the local governments where such casinos are sited are lobbying to change the law and carry on operations beyond the set date, but either way, all municipal casinos are in need of refurbishment and equipment updating in order to compete with the new casinos that are sited in 5-star hotels.

In 2010, all 15 casinos grossed US$317.34 million, an increase of 44.3% on 2009 gross revenue at US$219.81. It is important to state that between March and June, 8 casinos, including leading Monticello casino, closed after the February 27 earthquake in south Chile. However, not everything smells of roses in Chile, where a lack of legislation provisions for the operation of slots machines as a whole has small parlours in the country operating in excess of 100.000 skill-termed gaming devices in so called ‘clown casinos’.

MEXICO
Without doubt the largest, fastest, and most irregular market, where a 1947 Federal lotteries and betting legislation received a set of regulations in 2004 that empowered the Secretaria de Gobernacion – SEGOB - (State Office) to grant permits to operate gaming halls to a select group of businesses in the country.

With the leading gaming companies such as Caliente and Corporacion Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE) at the forefront of the industry, and both Spanish giants: Codere and Cirsa leading the pack, Televisa, the transnational, also got into the act with its Play City ‘casino’ brand, set exclusively after getting its Segob permits. However, as you cannot keep a good Mexican businessman down, many such sharp operators have managed to open casinos with third party, hired, contracted or plainly false permits, and invested millions of pesos building their own bit of Las Vegas in Mariachi land.

However, as markets go, Mexico has its very own idiosyncrasy, where operators make very good use of the ‘maquineros’, who are non-other than slots machine suppliers, whether manufacturers, distributers or agents, providing equipment on participation rates that nets them as low as 18% depending on the quality and cost of the gaming devices. Basically, Mexico is an operator’s market, where real machine sales are not very encouraging, but where there is great potential for business, and any ventures into the gaming industry in this country should be with expert market and gaming professional guidance.

OTHER MARKETS
As some countries like the Dominican Republic exercise new tax and regulations reforms, others like Panama and Uruguay continue an upwards property development trend, either as a free market or mixed economy respectively. One thing is for certain, though, as the years move on Latin American countries carry on improving gaming regulation in their jurisdictions where compliance more than matches that in first world economies.

For additional information on Latin American gaming read Casino International Americano or contact Ricki Chavez-Muñoz at greatavickery@yahoo.co.uk (S-07.26.11)