Legislation
Argentina – Bingo halls in Buenos Aires could be forced to close
By Phil - 2 June 2014
In a shock announcement The National Lottery has warned the five bingo halls operating in the capital that they must pay a total of 130m pesos in back taxes and be prepared to close as their licences expire at the end of this year.
Unions are on a state of alert after the announcement was made as the bingo halls employ a total of 1,500 people both directly and indirectly.
It was believed that the back taxes would be overlooked as part of an agreement with Head of the Lottery Roberto López on order to save jobs. However, the owners of the bingo halls have been warned that a new licensing process will begin next year for all the bingo halls in the city once their licences expire. The contract for the bingo halls was first granted in 2007 for ten years although the remaining three years of the contract depends on permission being granted to them from the National Lottery. The licences are due to expire on 20 December this year.
Under current rules bingo halls may not operate slot machines and the sector has seen falling revenues ever since slot machines were installed beneath the racetrack in downtown Buenos Aires and on two so called floating casinos moored permanently to the city harbour. It is believed that the closures in the capital could see a rapid expansion of the sector possibly along similar lines to their counterparts in the province. In the province there are 46 bingo halls which are often large scale housing in some cases hundreds of Class III slot machines on the premises.
The Union of Gaming Workers (Aleara) and the Union of Workers in the Gastronomic Sector (Uthgra) have announced jointly that they will seek an urgent audience with the Minister of Social Development Alicia Kirchner as well as the head of the Lottery Roberto López, and Head of the Labour Ministry Carlos Tomada in order to express their concerns over the possible closures.
In a joint statement heads of both unions said that their members will use “all means necessary” to defend the jobs of its members and urged the government to clarify the situation immediately.
