Operator News
Ecuador – Casinos could be back on the cards in Ecuador
By Phil - 7 August 2017
Businessmen from the gambling sector have held a meeting with members from the Ecuadorian Committee on Human and Union Rights (CEDHUS) as well as representatives of the Central Government, to propose the reopening of casinos.
The meeting which was held in the city of Guayaqui was attended by the head of small businesses (MYPES) as well as other high ranking government officials in order to discuss the issue with foreign owners of gambling halls and casinos, as well as Francisco Zambrano Campuzano, President of CEDHUS.
Zambrano Campuzano, promoter of the meeting, said that with the exit of casinos in Ecuador, more than 100,000 direct and indirect employees were left jobless. He also went onto say that with the regulated and controlled return of gaming, state revenue would increase and the industry would provide jobs to more than 100,000 people. From a legal point of view, with the departure of casinos and gambling halls, the constitution as well as a number of local and international laws had been broken, he said.
Members of the gaming industry delivered a document at the meeting which reflected their willingness to return and reinvest in Ecuador. They also asked that delegates from the Ministry of Tourism, Labour, Health as well as the Interior be invited to attend the next working meeting.
The news would signal a huge turnaround in government policy. In September 2010 then President of Ecuador Rafael Correa announced that his government was seeking to ban casinos. Claiming that casinos in Ecuador had become hotbeds of corruption and money laundering Correa told local press that his administration would put the question before the Ecuadorian people as part of a referendum. If the Ecuadorian people agreed with the President’s views on the issue then all of the fifty five casinos and bingo halls in Ecuador would be closed down forthwith.
Almost 4m Ecuadorians (47.7 per cent of the voters) voted that that they were in favour of such a move meaning that many skilled and experienced casinos workers, many of whom had been working in the industry for almost fifteen years were left jobless. It also meant that the government lost around US$20m in tax revenue per year.
Under previous legislation, casinos operating in Ecuador had to offer—in addition to slots—at least four different types of table gaming in five-star hotels and two to three types of table gaming in three- and four-star hotels, respectively. This was then changed in 2008 when the “Regulation of Casinos in the Tourism Law” was approved by President Correa. According to article 5 of this act casinos could in the future only be part of a “hotel de lujo” meaning in a five star hotel located in a tourist hot spot.
