Chile: After 270 days of suspension, SCJ resumes the granting of casino licenses

After last July 27, 2020, the Superintendency of Casinos (SCJ) decided to suspend the licensing process due to the health situation derived from Covid-19, it now decided to reactivate it. The agency published that this Monday, May 24, it will restart the process of granting operating permits for casinos that was suspended for 270 days. Thus, he added that the hearing date for the presentation of technical and economic offers will be next October 18 at 10 am, at the Hotel Gran Palace in Santiago.

According to current regulations, you can apply for a casino operating permit in all regions of the country, with the exception of the Metropolitan Region; The Valparaíso Region is also excluded, since it already has a maximum of three casinos with a valid operating permit.

In this way, those that enter the process will be the squares with gambling halls that expire from 2023, among which Sun Monticello, Marina del Sol, Enjoy Antofagasta and the Dreams of Temuco, Valdivia and Punta Arenas stand out, among others. Initially, the authority had put the process on hold for 90 days, but at the end of November it extended the suspension for an additional 180 days.

The competition has been questioned by industry operators who ask that it be carried out according to the rules established when the concessions were granted in 2005, which gave them a preferential right in the renovation of the gaming halls. In addition, the government was criticized for Decree 77 that granted an extension in the development of works to the operators, which was interpreted by its competitors as a measure to benefit Enjoy.

On April 28, executives of the International Bank - Enjoy's creditor - met with the head of the Superintendency's Legal Division, Manuel Zárate, and among a series of doubts, they asked about the modification of Enjoy's projects in Coquimbo, Viña del Mar and Pucón, and for the reactivation of the bidding process. The bank asked if the economic offer could be paid monthly, to which the SCJ replied that it could not. In addition, he consulted about the merger of Dreams with Enjoy. "It is not appropriate to express an opinion," said the SCJ.