It is expected that the bill sent by the Executive Power will begin to be debated this week.
Paraguay.- Following a request from the Executive Power, the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay will finally give "urgent processing" to the reform project of Law No. 1016/1997, "which establishes the legal regime for the exploitation of games of chance or luck" with the intention of approving it before the end of the year.
The initiative, which has already suffered several delays, also includes the transfer of supervision from the National Gambling Commission (Conajzar) to the National Directorate of Tax Revenues (DNIT).
The project was entered in the Lower Chamber last November 4 and originally the "urgent treatment" was not proposed, a constitutional figure established in article 210 of the Magna Carta, which is now proposed by the initiative of the Executive and which obliges the treatment of Deputies before December 4 since, otherwise, it will have automatic sanction, according to the local media ABC Color.
The exploitation permits for games such as the lottery, as well as sports betting, are currently granted to a single bidder, that is, there is a monopoly. The initiative seeks to end this although, according to the authors of the original project, the wording of the Executive poses some ambiguities in this regard.
This is because the article 8 proposed by the government of Santiago Peña states that "the concessions will be granted to the best offer presented and that conforms to the norms dictated by the competent authority", which could be interpreted as the continuity of the monopoly, were it not because article 23 bis says that the competent authority will be in charge of "regulating the number of exploitation authorizations that will correspond to each type of game, which cannot be less than three for each of them".
The deputy Adrián “Billy” Vaesken seeks that "the concessions be granted at least to the three best bidders presented and that dictated by the competent authority, among which will include the power to increase the fee. The decisions of awarding national character gambling games require the approval of the Executive Power".
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Regarding this point, the legislator Daniel Centurión, told the media Ñanduti, that the project currently studied in Congress, will represent a positive advance to avoid the existing monopoly in gambling.
“If we achieve approval and then it is promulgated, it would be a step forward, but not towards a total opening, but an oligopoly”, specified Centurión, regarding the management of the bidders.
“What it will allow is that it is not a single company, but several can participate. We are breaking the monopoly, but the opening is also not total, within the bill only three companies are allowed”, added the deputy.
One of the most important changes proposed in the project would be the transfer of supervision from the National Gambling Commission (Conajzar) to the National Directorate of Tax Revenues (DNIT). Also to eliminate the market monopoly.
The proposal seeks to optimize collection and strengthen Conajzar, giving it greater supervisory capabilities. The document presented to Congress exposes the need to modernize the current regulatory framework. It is proposed that the changes allow Conajzar to integrate its operations into the DNIT, providing it with a more efficient mechanism to enforce resolutions and facilitate the monitoring of the industry.
With this merger with the DNIT, the Government hopes to take advantage of the latter institution's collecting experience. The proposal also emphasizes the importance of improving Conajzar's tools, an agency that, until now, has had limitations in imposing its resolutions and ensuring compliance with the law in the gambling sector.
The bill also aims to strengthen Conajzar's powers in its role as a regulatory body. The reform includes new powers for the general director of the entity, who will assume coordination, development, and monitoring functions of the sector.
The president of Conajzar, Carlos Liseras, stated that this proposal is highly positive for the entity so that the DNIT can improve regulation and collection. “With this, we will be a dependency of the DNIT, we will have the necessary muscle and personnel”, he expressed to 780 AM.
Additionally, the official stated that this will be a fundamental step to directly attack the clandestine exploitation of gambling. He also mentioned that the treatment of the bill was requested urgently in both chambers of the National Congress. “The DNIT is a quite powerful institution to fight against clandestine exploitation”, he emphasized.
However, the opinion of the Justice Commission, chaired by the Cartes party deputy Yamil Esgaib - dedicated to the casino sector - issued an opinion with a series of modifications, among which it suggests that some powers should not be in charge of DNIT.
According to ABC, regarding the demonopolization, article 8º states that “the concessions will be granted to the best offers presented”, in plural, while it also modifies article 23 bis, where it eliminates the mention that at least three bidders must be awarded and adds issues related to its sector, that of casinos.
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Article 23 bis proposed by this opinion states that “the authorizations for the operation of premises for electronic gambling machines or games will be limited to 1,000 units per Municipality; except for Asunción, Ciudad del Este, Pedro Juan Caballero, and Encarnación, where the limit will be up to 2,000 units. In these 4 cities, premises with less than 40 units or electronic gambling machines will not be authorized”.
In article 25, the issue of monopoly is mentioned again, but it establishes a limit of up to three concessions for the lottery and sports betting. “No more than three lottery and sports betting games will be authorized in the country, and no awards that constitute a monopoly will be allowed”, states the document.
