The legislative initiative that sought to punish with up to 15 years in prison the clandestine sale of lottery tickets was archived in the National Assembly.
Panama.- The proposal to criminalize the clandestine sale of lottery tickets was archived in a subcommittee of the National Assembly after concluding that there are already laws that regulate this illegal practice. It is worth remembering that the bill had been approved by the Committee on Government, Justice, and Constitutional Affairs of the National Assembly of Panama.
The proposal, driven by José Clara, sought to amend the Panamanian Penal Code to classify as a crime the clandestine sale of lottery tickets, with harsher prison sentences and fines.
Specifically, the initiative proposed to penalize with 6 to 10 years in prison those who sold lottery tickets clandestinely, whether physically or electronically. If sales exceeded USD100,000 or if there was recidivism, the penalty would increase from 8 to 15 years in prison. Additionally, it contemplated imposing fines on commercial establishments involved in this illegal activity, with amounts ranging from USD5,000 to USD10,000, doubling in case of recidivism.
According to the proponents of this initiative, the goal was to protect public funds allocated to social programs and ensure transparency in the draws of the National Lottery of Charity.
After the subcommittee evaluating the draft bill decided to recommend its rejection to the Committee, the Panamanian ticket sellers criticized the decision. The president of the Ticket Sellers Union, Fernando González, told local media that it should have waited until the entity presented its draft, so that the authorities and the trade association could agree on the sanctions for this illegal practice.
“The lottery needs to have a robust law so that it can act exemplarily against the clandestine sale, classifying it as a crime as this is linked to money laundering and drug trafficking,” González asserted. He added that lottery returns range between 36 percent and 45 percent, generating around USD 200m in losses for the State.
The representative of the sellers detailed that the current regulations became outdated over time since they date from 1969 and limit the entity's ability to take measures against those who commit this illegality.
