Operator News
Paraguay – Paraguay’s Gaming Board backtracks on licence extensions
By Phil - 7 June 2018
Paraguay’s Gaming Board (CONAJZAR) has decided not to automatically renew the license for companies Azar Internacional SA (the operator of the Hotel Casino Acaray of Ciudad del Este) and Casinos Paraguayos SA (the operator of Casino Carnaval de Encarnación) for another 10 years beginning in 2025.
It would have been the third time that the licences had been extended having been extended in 2007 and then again in 2011.
The board announced earlier this week that the licence extensions had been granted. However, the announcement immediately caused controversy. Javier Balbuena, former president of CONAJZAR, indicated that there could be no automatic renewal for the casinos and that during his administration operators had been asked for certain investments as conditions within the framework of the bids.
Meanwhile Juan Ernesto Villamayor, coordinator of the transition team of President-elect Mario Abdo Benitez and future Interior Minister, said that the renewal of licenses for casinos was a violation of the law. He said there needed to be a tender and announced that the next government would seek to cancel the new contracts straightaway.
“There is no automatic renewal in the law, after the deadline a tender has to be called, that is what the law establishes, what they have done is a violation of the law,” he said.
According to CONAJZAR President Oscar Portillo this week, the extension so many years ahead of time was normal procedure. “They have a fixed fee that they are paying in. In the case of Azar Internacional it stands at G. 402,035,403 per month and for Casinos Paraguayos G. 74,880,506,” he said adding that the measures had been based on the investment plans presented by both firms. To approve the extension from 2025, there was a US$4 million investment plan and operators had agreed to donate US$1,500,000 in medical equipment. The operators also had to accept an increase in the current canon by 15 per cent from January 2026.
However, in a statement released yesterday (June 5th) the board disclosed that it had immediately revoked CONAJZAR Resolution No. 40/218 and 41/218, which had allowed for the renegotiation of the license of the two casinos, after a meeting with President of Paraguay Horacio Cartes.
