Operator News

Chile – Enjoy the big winner as Chile awards five municipal casino licences

By Phil - 14 June 2018

The Deciding Council of the Chilean Gaming Board (SJC) has awarded five municipal casino licences with Enjoy scooping four licences and Sun dreams the other.

According to the statement issued by the board, the total amount of the winning bids combined exceeded the minimum financial bid by as much as 68.1 per cent. After the licences were awarded the Undersecretary of Finance, Francisco Moreno, said that it was “great news for the Regional Governments and Municipalities that have these casinos.”

Head of the SJC Vivien Villagrán Acuña described the granting of the licences as “a milestone” for the industry as it was a step towards placing every casino finally under the control of the SJC.

“With the authorisation of these venues, we will move towards an industry regulated by a single legislation, taking all the casinos to common standards and supervised by the Superintendence of Casinos. This situation is a big step for the development of the industry and directly benefits the local community and casino customers,” she said.

For the commune of Pucón, Casino del Lago S.A. (Enjoy), won the licence having presented a financial offer of UF121,000, which was 175 per cent more than the guaranteed minimum offer, which stood at UF 44,000 per year. Casino de Juegos Pucón S.A. (Sun Dreams), presented an offer of UF 60,011, and was denied the licence. (The UF is defined as the amount of currency units, or pesos, necessary for Chileans to buy a representative basket of consumer goods. The peso-to-UF exchange rate is calculated daily).

For the municipality of Puerto Varas, Casino de Puerto Varas S.A. (Enjoy), won the licence having presented an offer for a total of UF 151,501, which was 64.7 per cent more than the UF 92,000 per year minimum financial offer. Casino de Juegos Puerto Varas S.A. (Sun Dreams), presented an offer of UF 110,100, and was denied the licence.

For the municipality of Iquique, Entretenimientos Iquique S.A (Sun Dreams) was the only bidder, and put forward an offer for a total of UF 234,777, which constituted 17 per cent more than the guaranteed minimum economic offer of UF 200,664, and was awarded the licence.

For the commune of Coquimbo, the winner was Casino de la Bahia S.A. (Enjoy), which put forward an offer for a total of UF 481,501, which was as much as 221 per cent more than the minimum offer of UF 150,000 . Meanwhile, Casino de Juegos Coquimbo S.A (Sun Dreams) failed to win the licence having presented an offer of UF 250,777.

For the municipality of Viña del Mar, Casino del Mar S.A. (Enjoy) was the winner having presented an offer of UF 831,123, 39.4 per cent higher than the minimum offer of UF 596,170. Entretenimientos Viña del Mar S.A. and Casino de Juegos Viña del Mar S.A (both from Sun Dreams) presented an offer of UF 624,777 and UF700,777, respectively and lost their bids.

Licences for the five casinos are for a duration of fifteen years. The companies must develop the project within the term established in the operation plan, which may not exceed two years starting from the publication of the resolution granting the operating permit. The company may request an extension, which will only be granted if the extension is justified. In the case of Viña del Mar, as the casino must be located in the current municipal building, the term for the start of operations is less and must not exceed 90 days from the delivery of the property by the current concessionaire until the start of the new operations. It must also be carried out during the months with the lowest number of visitors.

The Deciding Council of the Chilean Gaming Board (SJC) completed the technical bid evaluation for five municipal casino licences earlier this month. The SJC announced that the Deciding Council, chaired by the Undersecretary of Finance, had unanimously ratified the technical bid proposals for casinos in the communes of Iquique, Coquimbo, Viña del Mar, Pucón and Puerto Varas. The Council also reported the scores for each applicant reporting that each had met with the minimum score requirement as established by law. The score had to be at least 60 per cent of the total possible score in order to go forward.