A delegation from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the National Directorate of Casinos, presented the bill in Parliament last Thursday which aims to authorize online gambling in casinos in the country.
The initiative empowers the Executive Branch to directly exploit this modality, and authorize it in concessionaires that already have licenses for face-to-face gambling, both in the mixed system and in the private one.
The Undersecretary of Economy and Finance, Alejandro Irastorza, explained that after the closure of the gaming rooms that was decreed due to the pandemic, several operators of mixed casinos requested that the online modality be incorporated.
Among the applicants, he mentioned notes signed by the Criohsa group, which operates the Radisson Victoria Plaza Casino in Montevideo; the Boldt Group and the Peralada Group, which operate the hotels and casinos in Salto and Rivera, and Hípica Rioplatense, which operates the Montevideo Shopping, 18 de Julio, Géant, Las Piedras and Pando venues. It is also a request that private casinos such as Enjoy, and even the Cipriani group have made for their delayed project in Punta del Este.
“Illegal activity has advanced notably; that’s why this is going to fight in some way illegal online gambling. We raised this bill to regularize the issue and provide it with a very strict and forceful regulation “, stated Irastorza, according to the stenographic version of the Finance Commission to which he agreed The Observer.
For his part, the general director of Casinos, Gustavo Anselmi, explained that online gambling already exists in almost all parts of the world. “It is regulated and regulated, it is respected, and it is one more tool that Uruguay has to regulate the online market because, as it is prohibited, it is totally uncontrolled, even though the National Directorate of Lotteries and Quinielas makes every effort to cancel the sites that are installed here ”, he pointed out.
Platforms, records and traceability
Anselmi explained that it is a platform or software, which today is fully certified by specialized companies. These companies are the ones that certify the slots and also the online platforms, which are called GLI and are similar to the ISO quality standards. This software is rented a hosting in the cloud, and the game mode to be authorized is charged, be it roulette, cards or slots, for example.
As he explained, the General Directorate of Casinos can hire its own platform. It can also be exploited by mixed operators if they make a consortium and have a single platform, and if they do not have a consortium, each of them could provide their own. In the case of private casinos, the Executive Power plans to carry out other specific regulations for the sector.
The hierarch added that the registration of people is done as in any web page or application, by means of an affidavit of all their data. The platform will not allow you to register if it is not within Uruguayan territory. This information arises from the ID and the geolocation, so the person will not be able to play if he is not within the Uruguayan territory, although this could be a point to “think” in the regulations.
For example, the senator of the National Party, Jorge Gandini, stated that if Uruguayans end up playing in Las Vegas, why foreigners could not participate in an international poker championship in a Uruguayan casino while in Brazil or the US.
Regarding the means of payment, Anselmi explained that can only be played with a credit card. When the client registers, he enters the details of the card that you are going to use and that allows you to know the origin of the funds that are banked.
The owner of Casinos also pointed out that the platforms also have a project of “Responsible gambling”. “When the client registers that is fully parameterizable. This includes the maximums that you can play and that you can lose, as well as the maximum games that you can do per minute or per hour, and if you do not comply, alter or exceed that traceability, you are removed from the game. It also has a self-exclusion registry, like casinos have, but this is stronger because thanks to the software it is easily detectable, ”said Anselmi. According to the hierarch, there will be no welcome bonuses to other gambling sites either.
Increased gambling and pathological gamblers
The Senator of the Broad Front, Alejandro Sánchez, expressed during the session his concern about the “Increased gambling”, and gave as an example what happened in Spain where there has been “a sustained increase” since the legalization of online gambling, he said.
He also pointed out that the possibility of different platforms makes self-control over a pathological player more complex. “If I have him playing on my platform and I block him, I have little incentive, as a company, to do so, since he can go to play on another platform of my competitor. This also creates difficulties, in addition to the fact that, since there are multiple platforms, it will be quite complex and the bill does not foresee the controls that we are going to be able to exercise over incoming and outgoing flows, “said Sánchez.
