Baloto, for 21 years, has completed 1.8 billion pesos in prizes and 108 Colombian billionaires. The last one was a man who won 18,700 million pesos in January.
(Read: First millionaire of 2022!: Baloto Revancha fell in Girardot).
However, in recent weeks the famous game has had problems due to its bidding for next 5 years. Which is a contract of more than 1.5 billion pesos. This tender has been declared void three times and if the authorities do not change the rules, the Baloto could disappear, according to information from El Tiempo.
The foregoing, because apparently the game is not financially viable for those who want to be an operator, as established by the claims of the IGT Games company, which has been in charge of the Baloto since it was created.
However, on this occasion he decided not to participate in the tender. Currently, IGT, a company with a presence in more than 100 countries, transfers to the health sector by law 32.5 percent of the gross income from Baloto Revancha sales. In total, more than 1.4 trillion pesos have been transferred since its creation, and only last year the sum reached about 82,162 million pesos between the two
However, IGT establishes that the concession of the Baloto is only viable if that percentage is reduced. For its part, Coljuegos has proposed 27% reduction, which for IGT is insufficient and should be between 22 and 23%. The company claims that if these changes are not made, the game would continue to generate losses.
(What’s more: ‘Requirements in process by Baloto make the business unviable’).
“The sustainability of the game has reached such a critical point that during the execution of this concession contract IGT in Colombia has accumulated losses close to 40 million dollars”, says a letter signed by Hernando Chica Zuccardi, country manager of the company.
The spokesman emphasizes that the percentage of exploitation rights of Baloto is practically twice the average of that paid by the games of luck and chance operated at the national level, which varies between 17 and 19 percent.
Due to inactivity in the tender, Colgames is working on adjusting the conditions before May 24 and thus ensure that Baloto continues to operate. That is the only option because the administration does not have enough economic resources to operate it.
BRIEFCASE
With information from EL TIEMPO*
