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Uruguay – Tender required for casino licence in Punta del Este

By - 28 March 2019

The Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uruguay (MEF) has confirmed that the only way to grant a new license for the operation of a private casino in the San Rafael hotel in Punta del Este, will be through a tender.

The confirmation was in response to the request for reports made by Deputy of the Independent Party for the Maldonado department, Andrés Carrasco, who had put forward new requests to the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uruguay (MEF), regarding information on the possible concession of a private casino licence to the San Rafael Hotel.

According to local news portal Maldonado Noticias, the MEF confirmed that the investment group headed by businessman Giuseppe Cipriani had looked into the possibility of obtaining a license for the operation of a private casino associated with the hotel.

The businessman was received by authorities as well as the Presidency of the Republic. There he was informed that “the granting of the authorization or license for the operation of a private casino in the city of Punta del Este will necessarily require a call for public bidding.”

According to the MEF it was explained that the obligation of a call for bids, arises both from the applicable regulations – Article 20 of Decree Law 14,335 -, as well as from Decree 588/75 and especially from the clause of Article 21 of the contract that the State signed with the company Baluma SA” (the company which owns the Hotel Enjoy de Punta del Este casino).

This clause, “grants exclusivity in a certain territorial area, unless the investment and the fee are equal or superior to that of the aforementioned hotel and that the selection of the concessionaire is carried out through the competitive procedure required by Decree 588 / 75 (public tender).”
The bidding process may be reached through the initiative of the administration (the government) or by private initiative meaning that the investor can request the government to open a call for bids.

Local law states that the granting of private casino licenses must be done through a public tender and if they are in the city of Punta del Este, “they must be international luxury hotel establishments … ”

Earlier this month Carrasco put forward new requests to the MEF regarding information on the possible concession of a private casino licence to the San Rafael Hotel. The legislator had previously sent a request for reports to the ministry, asking if there was any procedure underway for the granting of a casino licence. However The MEF had told him that no administrative process had been set in motion.

The new request for reports on the casino licence was made after statements made by businessman Giuseppe Cipriani, who said he expected the license to operate a casino in the future Cipriani Ocean Resort & Club Residences.

The emblematic San Rafael hotel in Punta del Este, has been closed since 2011, but was acquired by the Cipriani Group for more than US$40m in February 2018 after an agreement was signed by Giuseppe Cipriani.

The plan includes putting up 90,000 square meters of additional residences for sale next year. The project encompasses the construction of two horizontal towers perpendicular to each other with a maximum height of 100 meters in addition to the restoration of the Tudor style building, which was first inaugurated in 1948.

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