The company Pit, of Italian businessman Giuseppe Cipriani, agreed to an extension for the signing of the contract with the Executive Power for the concession of the private exploitation of a casino in Maldonado. The Investor is in charge of remodeling the former San Rafael hotel and casino in Punta del Este. Cipriani was due to appear this Tuesday, December 21 at the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to stamp his signature, but it was seen Unable to travel to Uruguay because of covid-19. MEF sources informed The Observer that the Executive Power “agreed to grant an extension.” The parties defined sign the contract on January 14 at 12 noon.
The contract that Cipriani plans to sign is for the operation of a private casino for 20 years that is conditional on the construction of a luxury hotel. The award of the concession was granted in December of last year at the height of the pandemic in Uruguay.
In mid-April, it was learned that the new version eliminates the two horizontal towers that were articulated with the old hotel building, and incorporates three vertical towers. One of them would be located exactly behind the new luxury hotel, and would be 237 meters high. The second tower that would be located further to the east would be 170 meters high, and a third building is expected to be 125 meters high. This new design gives the possibility of the work being developed in stages, as has been stated by the team of architects headed by the Uruguayan Rafael Viñoly.
Until now, the information that the city hall has is that the reconstruction of the hotel and the basement where the private casino – key to the business – and the rest of the services will be located, would begin first. And only after, with that part already operational, would the first tower be built.
Project for online casinos
Last month, the Executive Branch sent Parliament a bill that empowers it, through the General Directorate of Casinos, to provide the activity of casino games such as poker, roulette, slots, among others, under the online mode through the internet, technological platforms and computer applications or similar.
The firm Fosara had previously presented two appeals to revoke three administrative resolutions of the National Directorate of Lotteries and Quinielas – two from the previous government and one from this administration. The firm argued that in this way the power to organize online gambling was illegally granted to the Bancas de Colectiva de Quinielas (Banca de Quinielas).
When the Cipriani group presented the project for the remodeling of the former San Rafael hotel, it requested two licenses. The traditional one of a face-to-face casino and another to develop the online casino.
The MEF explained to El Observador —when the bill was sent to Parliament— that there were other notes presented by different private casinos or that operate in a mixed system already installed in Uruguay, requesting that online gambling be enabled. The Ejoy casino is one of the private ones that is waiting for this legal framework to be approved to enter that business unit. The MEF also indicated that the future hotel-casino in Rocha or Carmelo could also have access to this authorization to gamble through the internet.
The Executive Power will be in charge of regulating points such as, for example, the games to be authorized, means of payment, distribution of profits and the fee to be charged, if the exploitation corresponds to private providers.
