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Chile – Legal battle over Chillán Casino not over yet

By - 2 October 2016

While it might have appeared that over two years of controversy and legal wrangling in the courts was finally over when it came to the granting of the licence in Chillán it would appear that Boldt Peralada still has one card left to play.

The Santiago Appeals Court has declared admissible a claim put forward by Boldt Peralda that the awarding of the licence to its Chilean-Canadian competitor Marina del Sol was illegal. The legal action was filed before the court adjourned on September 16th before Chile’s Independence Day holidays and rescinds the ratification of the licence granted to Marina del Sol which had already been officially made public in Chile’s official Diario Oficial (Chile’s Government gazette).

The action was filed by lawyer Ricardo Abdala and is directed at the decision made by the Chilean Gaming Control Board (SJC) – and its Deciding Council headed by Deputy Finance Minister of Chile, Alejandro Micco on August 22.

The panel had been convened to settle the bidding for the vacant license for once and for all. Having looked at all of the issues in question the council said that it had “unanimously decided” to grant the casino licence to Marina del Sol Chillán SA.

But in the 57-page document Boldt once again claims that the Regional Government of Bío Bío had gone beyond its remit when awarding Bold Peralda 0 points while awarding 300 points to Marina del Sol as it had no right to award points on the basis of technicalities. The council had declared that the Boldt Peralada projected site for the casino in Chillán was too close to an educational-establishment and violated aspects of Regional Development Strategy.

However Boldt-Peralada continues to make the claim that the decision of the Regional Council had been arbitrary and illegal as the council had no right to award points on the basis of technicalities. As a result the company claims that the Deciding Council should not have taken this into account when making its final decision.
The document claims also that Marina del Sol did not meet the minimum capital requirements at the time of applying for the licence and also reiterates the company’s claims that Marina del Sol had not complied with the requirement to have in place the necessary legal financial support in terms of a bank guarantee during the tender process.

The tender process for the casino in Chillán has been delayed for over two years as both Boldt Peralada and Marina del Sol have battled it out over the licence in both the courts and in the Regional Council. Once the issue is finally resolved the winner will have two years in which to build the casino and have it up and running while they will have more time to complete additional works.

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