The Association of Ticket Sellers requested that the draft bill seeking to raise the percentage to 20 percent be addressed. "We have been waiting for this for 20 years," said the head of the union, Fernando González.
Panama.- Sellers of chances and tickets of the National Lottery of Charity (LNB) have made a claim for the advancement in the processing of the project to increase their sales profits, taking the margin up to 20 percent.
Fernando González, from the Association of Ticket Sellers, stated that they are requesting the new administration of the entity to increase the sales percentages. In this regard, he reiterated that there is a draft law in the National Assembly, which seeks to increase the profits to 20 percent. He maintained that a subcommittee was created to look at all aspects of the issue and with the new administration, a step forward has been taken for this to happen.
However, González expressed his concern because the Assembly may soon stop sessioning and perhaps the issue will be postponed to next year. "We ticket sellers have been waiting for this for over 20 years," claimed the head of the union about the urgency in adopting a new scale of earnings on sales.
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According to González, currently, the profit percentage is at 10 percent of sales, so raising it to 20 percent would mean a change in the life of the workers. Saquina Jaramillo, director of the institution, said that the corresponding evaluations will be made to comply with this request from the head of the Executive.
Finally, the head of the ticket sellers association explained the need to delve into the fight against illegal gambling, which is harmful to the LNB but also to the workers. According to a recent report from the LNB, illegal gambling would cause the entity to miss out on collecting about USD 200m annually.
While the debate to modify the amounts received by the lottery sellers is taking place in the legislative sphere, the mayor's office of La Chorrera announced that it will carry out operations to combat the proliferation of illegal gambling.
The ticket sellers from that locality expressed how affected they are by the illegal sale of lottery and requested that a stop be put to the offenders, detecting them with operations led by the Mayor's Office of La Chorrera, in conjunction with the National Police (PN), Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MICI) and the Public Ministry (MP).
The affected highlighted that there is a proliferation of premises dedicated to clandestine sales and emphasized that it is unfair competition that greatly affects their income, that of the LNB, and the State.
The directive will enter into force on December 11.
Cambodia.- Sar Sokha, Cambodia’s minister of interior, has issued a directive banning the creation, distribution, and promotion of content linked to illegal gambling activities. The directive covers websites, social media pages, or accounts promoting illegal gambling and also bans sharing images or videos of gambling or encouraging public participation, whether online or offline.
Local authorities have been tasked with educating communities on the risks associated with illegal gambling and ensuring compliance with the directive, which is to be enforced from December 11.
The minister said there had been an increase in the promotion of gambling-related content, particularly on social media by content creators and influencers.
