Argentina’s Provincial Institute of Lottery and Casinos has announced that two casinos, located in the coastal resort towns of Necochea and Mar de Ajó, will close on June 1, compelling some 100 casino workers to relocate or forfeit their jobs.
In response, outraged workers and other union members in the province planned to go on strike last week. The announcement was made by IPLYC President Matías Lanusse, who informed the unions that the workers reserved the option to move to other properties. Roberto Páez, head of the Association of Management and Maintenance Services for Casinos, said it’s “perverse” to suggest relocation, as the nearest casino is more than 62 miles away.
According to CDC Gaming Reports, in January 2018 Governor María Eugenia Vidal announced that she would cancel the casino licenses as part of a retendering process and also in an effort to reduce gaming. At the same time, Vidal approved online gaming throughout the province.
Páez called the casino closures a “political” move.
“A year and a half ago Vidal said that she did it to take care of the people of Buenos Aires due to the scourge of gambling,” he railed. “That is totally contradicted by the online gambling in the province of Buenos Aires, a bill which was sent by her to the legislature last December and is already law.”
In related gaming news, Vidal has ratified an IPLyC resolution to extend local gaming firm Boldt’s license to operate slots in the casinos of Buenos Aires until June. In January, the IPLyC decided to exclude the company from the licensing process for the Central and Hermitage casinos in Mar del Plata and those in Tandil and Miramar, reported G3Newswire.
The decision came after state prosecutor Hernán Gómez questioned the guarantees put forward by Boldt during the tender, thereby rejecting the market leader’s bid to continue more than half of the business it’s run for 20-plus years.
According to the government’s Official Gazette, the decision to exclude Boldt was made based on an opinion from the prosecutor that the company breached the specifications of the tenders of seven Buenos Aires gaming halls.
