A group of former casino workers in Ecuador have joined together in hopes of restarting an industry that was closed by government fiat more than seven years ago.
According to CalvinAyre.com, a 2011 referendum emboldened President Rafael Correa to shut down Ecuador’s 32 licensed casinos and bingo halls; the last of them closed in 2012.
But last month a new group called the Association of Former Casinos Workers of Ecuador led by Mauricio Villacís submitted proposals to the government hoping to find a sympathetic ear—and some positive action.
The thumbs-down referendum and the resulting government crackdown were prompted by concerns about social problems that can be associated with gambling, while Villacís is emphasizing the positives of jobs, industry more taxes. Local media quoted Villacís arguing that legalizing casinos, bingo halls and sports betting operations, land-based and online, could mean 20,000 new jobs, $400 million in new investment and hundreds of millions in tax revenues.
He also pointed out that people did not stop gambling when the casinos shut down, they just took their money to neighboring Peru and Colombia. Villacís says Ecuadorian nationals contribute 15 percent of those markets’ gaming revenue, which he pegs at around $45 million. “And that’s not counting online gambling,” he told local media.
The arguments could be bearing fruit. Jorge Yunda, mayor of the capital city of Quito, has floated the idea of a new referendum to see if residents have changed their minds about casinos. ECTE claims to have made similar progress with elected officials in other major Ecuadorian cities.
