Supplier News

Chile – Chile to hold hearing on tender for new licences

As part of the preparation process ahead of the upcoming tender process for the municipal licences the Chilean Gaming Control Board (SJC) will hold a public hearing on Wednesday April 20 in order to respond to questions from those directly concerned.

The news comes after the SCJ published the requirements for the upcoming process via its website last month. According to a statement from head of the Board Daniel Garcia: “Under this new legal framework areas of discretion are reduced when awarding licences, so we hope to achieve objective, transparent processes and ensure greater revenue collection for the treasury, regions and communes,” he said.

The new tender process will be underpinned by the goals of ensuring greater revenue for the government as well as maximum transparency and objectivity when it comes to the granting of the licences. Members of the SJS’s technical team will be on hand to answer questions during the consultation.

Projects will be awarded points and judged on a wide number of different criteria by a number of different branches in the government including local and regional governments, the Tourist Board, the Ministry of Interior and Public Security and the SCJ. Points will be awarded on how the casino will fit in with local communities and into regional development strategy. The SCJ will also evaluate the project on how it will impact tourism, and will take into account the location, design and the quality of the proposed facilities.

The final decision will be made when a representative of the Executive Council of the Board opens the envelopes containing the financial offers of those applicants who have passed the minimum score established by law. The minimum score will be 600 points out of a total of 1,000. The licence will be awarded to the project which has submitted the highest bid.

The seven new licences are available after President Michelle Bachelet signed into law new regulations, which extend the licenses of the seven municipal casinos. The new rules extend the licenses until December 2017 in the districts of Vina del Mar, Arica, Iquique, Puerto Varas, Coquimbo, Pucon and Puerto Natales, which all expired on December 31, 2015. Once these licences expire the statute provides that from that date onwards, those municipalities will continue to be a home to a casino for a total of three periods of 15 years each and the new casinos will come under the supervision of the SJC.