The authorities of the National Charity Lottery delivered the contributions for the third quarter to the General Directorate of Revenues.
Panama.- The general director of Revenues of Panama, Camilo Valdés, on behalf of the Panamanian state, received from the general director of the National Charity Lottery (LNB), Saquina Jaramillo, the contributions in terms of the profits from the draws of the third quarter of the year, amounting to B/.8,050,000.00 (USD8m).
"The contributions delivered correspond to the profits from the sale of chances and tickets from various draws," explained the director of the DGI.
For her part, Director Jaramillo stated that the National Charity Lottery is a self-management entity, which by law makes contributions to the Panamanian state. Also, from the LNB it was explained that adjustments in the operational area and greater controls have allowed for the full compliance with the contributions in the months of July, August, and September.
"Apart from delivering the full contributions these three months, this new administration continues with the charity work throughout the country," they assured from the LNB.
See also: The gaming industry in Panama grew by 13.5% in the first half
It is worth remembering that in mid-July, the Government of Panama announced the appointment of Jaramillo as the new general director of the LNB, in replacement of Marcos Cedeño, who had been nominated in June, but declined the position citing personal reasons.
Jaramillo assured that one of her main objectives is to promote the transparency of the institution. Another mission assigned by the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, is to end the electronic lottery that has been operating in the country since October of last year.
As part of the initiative to make the situation transparent, after receiving the endorsement of the National Assembly, Jaramillo said that the list of holders or owners of ticket books will be disclosed, once an audit that is being carried out is completed. Jaramillo advanced that nationally there are 13,000 ticket sellers and that they have already managed to review about 7,500 of the list.
Those arrested were accused of allowing online gambling sites to operate illegally.
Indonesia.- The Jakarta Police have arrested 11 officials from the Communication and Digitalization Ministry for allegedly allowing online gambling operators to keep their websites operational despite a presidential order for an immediate shutdown. Wira Satya Triputra, director of the Jakarta Police’s General Crime Division, said they took bribes to allow approximately 20 per cent of the 5,000 gambling websites identified to continue operating.
Those arrested had reportedly been assigned to identify and shut down gambling sites and applications. The Jakarta Globe says that websites paid each official Rp 8.5m (US$540) to avoid enforcement. The suspects are said to include several specialist staff members.
Newly appointed communication minister Meutya Hafid has affirmed that her office supports the police investigation. She said: “The law must be applied strictly to anyone involved in the scandal without exception, particularly officials from our ministry.”
Gambling in Indonesia is illegal for both citizens and foreigners. In September, Budie Arie Setiadi, Indonesia’s communication and informatics minister, announced that between July 17, 2023 and September 17, 2024, the ministry removed 3,383,000 pieces of online gambling content. The ministry submitted 20,842 keywords related to online gambling to Google from November 7, 2023 to August 8, 2024 and 5,173 to Meta from December 15, 2023 to August 8, 2024.
The government has implemented a monitoring system using artificial intelligence to detect websites associated with online gambling. The ministry is also collaborating with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) to stop the use of payment and banking systems for online gambling.
