Puerto Rico’s machine gaming operators warn that a massive proposed increase in their annual license fee would devastate the industry on the Caribbean island and cost up to 9,000 jobs.
The legislature of the U.S. commonwealth is considering raising the fee from $100 to $3,000 as part of a bill designed to address a shrinking local economy and public debt that has ballooned to around $70 billion.
The fee increase is projected to generate an additional $80 million a year, but a spokesman for the operators said there “is no way” they will be able to afford it.
“The increase included in the project will be impossible to satisfy,” Anibal Villafane told G3 Newswire. “The expected projections following the approval of the project are false, ridiculous and out of all budgetary realities.”
