"Control and combat operations against clandestine gambling will be permanent," Carlos Liseras, Cornajzar

On January 6, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña promulgated an initiative that modifies the law of the National Commission of Games of Chance (CONAJZAR), whose aim is to eliminate the granting of permits, both for sports betting and for the lottery. In addition, CONAJZAR is now dependent on the National Directorate of Tax Revenue (DNIT).

In this regard, we interviewed Carlos Augusto Liseras Osorio, Paraguayan lawyer and politician, president of Cornajzar to guide us on the matter.

“Law 7438/25 is mandatory in the Republic of Paraguay and its implementation will be immediate,” says Liseras, who, when asked about how the tender will be carried out, responded as follows: “The call for tender to award licenses for the Quiniela game modality will be carried out no later than the first half of February of this year. Regarding the sports betting game modality, the technical-legal team is working on the regulation of the respective law, and the corresponding legal decision will be made shortly.”

Considering the change in the organization of the fight against illegal gambling and the role of CONAJZAR in this matter, he assured: “CONAJZAR, in accordance with Law 7438/25, which modifies Law 1016/97, one of the main novelties is that, since its promulgation, the regulatory body is fully empowered to order alerts, blocks and cancellations in the clandestine or unauthorized transmission of games of chance in the online modality; that is, the head of CONAJZAR, in accordance with the aforementioned regulations, is empowered to order seizures of computer equipment, equipment, utensils, devices, and gambling machines. The operations to control and combat clandestine exploitation will be permanent, constant and recurrent throughout the Republic of Paraguay,” Liseras concludes.