The Puerto Rico Gaming Commission is considering applying an amendment to modify the number of machines in agencies. The Police reject the initiative.
Puerto Rico.- It was known that the Puerto Rico Gaming Commission is analyzing revising the regulation that regulates video game machines or slot machines in horse racing agencies, and applying an amendment through which the number of devices operating in the establishments would be increased.
According to the local media El Nuevo Día, the proposal could even triple the number of slot machines in the gaming venues where horse racing is promoted. The proposal would have been presented by the Camarero Racetrack, through the company Light & Wonder, which operates the machines at the racetrack.
The acting director of the Gaming Commission, Juan Carlos Santaella Marchán, explained that an amendment to the regulation would be necessary to increase from 10 to 15 the limit of machines that each agency can have.
From the Association of Members of the Puerto Rico Police (AMPPR), the proposal was strongly rejected. El Sol de Puerto Rico published statements from Lieutenant José J. Taboada De Jesús, president of the association, who emphasized his discontent with the possibility of increasing the number of slot machines that the Horse Racing Agencies of the Camarero Racetrack can have, and said that if approved, the Retirement System Fund for the Police would be affected.
For Taboada De Jesús, the action of the acting director of the Gaming Commission of Puerto Rico “borders on the absurd, sets a precedent, and goes against retired police officers and those about to retire, most of whom receive a small pension after having offered their lives for the security of the country”.
The lieutenant assures that promoting the installation of more slot machines in the horse racing agencies of the Racetrack is to discourage the use of video game machines on route, which are already legalized and contribute to the Retirement System Fund for the Police.
The president of the Association of Members of the Puerto Rico Police, pointed out: "We know there are 5,000 approved machines, none of them pay duties or tax to the Department of the Treasury, so all the money they generate is for the owner of the Racetrack and its component, thus achieving a tax evasion endorsed by the legislature. The order that should be given by the director of the Commission should be to confiscate the remaining number of machines unused by the racetrack, so that the FISCO stops losing so much money."
See also: The Puerto Rico Gaming Commission strengthens the supervision of gambling
On the other hand, he assured that they had an agreement with the acting director of the Gaming Commission of Puerto Rico, his lawyer, and an assistant, who would have promised them in a meeting that as soon as the Governor signed the regulation, the sale of licenses would begin and the implementation of the video game machine system on route, which would equate to the start of money entering the Retirement Fund for the Police.
De Jesús, also stated: "It turns out now that the Commission itself opens the doors to the company that evades the country's treasury, warning that they must increase the number of machines that a Horse Racing Agency can have up to a maximum of 15 terminals. Simple math tells us that a reactivation of the project requesting an increase in the number of machines for the racetrack is on the way. In the past, there has been an attempt to increase the number of mini casinos from 50 operating today, to 125."
And he added: "These minicasinos (unfair competition for the tourism industry), operate with 30 machines each, with the exclusivity that they are exempt from the collection of duties for the operation and for the prize they award. Currently, the racetrack has approved 5,000 terminals to install slot machines, there are already 3,400 operating without contributing anything to the Department of the Treasury. The Gaming Commission is encouraging the Camarero Racetrack itself to continue evading its tax responsibility by telling them to accelerate installing 1,600 additional machines, which would later bring a request to the Legislature for more tax-evading machines, this cannot be allowed, the request from the Racetrack via the company Light & Wonder should not be approved."
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