The Paraguay Gaming Board is walking back earlier announcements that it would automatically renew the licenses for the operators of Hotel Casino Acaray of Ciudad del Este and Casino Carnaval.
The licenses had previously been extended in 2007 and 2011 and looked to be extended again, but this announced stirred considerable controversy after the former president of the National Gaming Commission (CONAJZAR) said that automatic renewals are illegal and that previously casino operators have been required to make certain investments as preconditions.
This view was repeated by Juan Ernesto Villamayor, who is running the transition team of President-elect Mario Abdo Benitez and has been slated to be the new Interior Minister. He said a new call for bids is required.
“There is no automatic renewal in the law, after the deadline a tender has to be called, that is what the law establishes, what they have done is a violation of the law,” he said.
The current CONAJZAR President Oscar Portillo disputed that, saying extensions was normal.
Meanwhile, the country has settled on one company to operate sports betting, Daruma Sam. According to Portillo, all other sports betting companies had provisional licenses that expired just before the World Cup competition began.
Daruma Sam will be operating 200 sports betting stores within the country.
