The Executive Power sent the project in July 2020 and after passing through the Senate Finance Commission, it was sanctioned in the Upper House on August 16 of this year, passing to the Deputies Finance Commission. It is expected that on November 9 the modifications proposed by some legislators will be introduced so that they can vote in the Commission and go to plenary. According to legislative deadlines, it could be approved before the end of the year or at the beginning of 2023. Because it will have modifications, it will have to return to the Senate. This will lead to the fact that in the first half of 2023 it is finally being approved and online casinos will only be operational by the second half of next year.

However, in the treatment in the Deputies Finance Commission, several doubts have arisen regarding the approval, among them those planted by the deputy Sebastián Cal (Open Council) who does not believe that the initiative "will come out quickly from Deputies", given that “more and more doubts are generated”.

He also expressed that all private companies that have the concession of a physical casino must go through the Commission, since they will be the ones authorized to install online casinos. The nationalist deputy Sebastián Andújar and Iván Posadas of the Independent Party have also marked some differences with the project that came out of the Senate.

“This is a bill that comes at the request of private investors who want to carry out some developments in our country. That is indisputable," said Cal, adding: "Without those possible investments to be made today, we would not be discussing this bill." The lobbyist legislator referred to the Cipriani Group that is carrying out the construction of a hotel with a casino where the San Rafael de Punta del Este was located.

Pablo Monsuárez, from the aforementioned group, said before the legislators that the online casino was always part of the investment. “The online game is not a last-minute proposal from the Cipriani Group, but rather it was the first proposal that was made in writing” when the project was presented to then president Tabaré Vázquez.

Monsuárez made it clear to the legislators that the Cipriani project is going ahead, but that the online casino option is for the survival of the project, noting that “the minimum conditions to develop this activity today are the combination of the two licenses: physical and online. He also pointed out that the downside of the project is that sports betting is not allowed. These today are managed by the Quinielas Bank through the "Supermatch" site. “Today whoever has a face-to-face casino must have the online one. To call it in some way, the online comes to subsidize the face-to-face”, concluded the representative of the Cipriani Group.

But one of the issues that he is most concerned about is how to prevent gambling addiction cases from skyrocketing, which was what happened in Europe when online gambling and competition between companies were released.

Deputy Cal said: "We are really concerned that tremendously relevant actors have tried to minimize the risk of online gambling by saying that the situation in Uruguay is incomparable with England, Italy or Spain." For this reason, he announced that in the project he will add an article absolutely prohibiting the promotion and advertising of online casinos.

The project establishes allocating 5% of what is collected by online casinos to deal with the issue of gambling. According to estimates by the National Association of State Casino Officials, the collection of online casinos can reach a figure similar to that currently collected by physical casinos in 10 years, which is around US$200 million per year. Therefore, the allocation for gambling addiction would be around US$ 10 million per year. This guild also understands that physical casinos will tend to disappear.“Montevideo, Paysandú and Maldonado are hot spots for gambling addiction”.

The member of the Program for the Prevention and Treatment of Gambling at Hospital de Clínicas, psychologist professor Carla Francolino, pointed out that there are 130 people being followed up for gambling problems and that they have consulted the existing clinic through an agreement between the Faculty of Medicine and the General Directorate of Casinos (DGC). In addition to Montevideo, Paysandú and Maldonado are considered hot spots for this problem. But these are the people who have taken on the problem; there would be thousands more who have not.

Francolino warned in the commission that a new agreement between the DGC and the University is about to be signed, although the amount allocated for treatment will be reduced by half, with fewer resources and people working fewer hours in that program.

She also said that it has been verified in the drug prevention program in the workplace at the Hospital de Clínicas that many people stop using cocaine and start playing in casinos, or that they have both addictions together. "Anything is good for the addict, because she gets 'hooked' on addictions quickly," she said.

Regarding slot machines, she said that “there is no question that repetition and speed of play are essential for the addict. They need it to be now, as quickly as possible. The same thing happens to them as to those who consume pasta base, who immediately want more”.

A strong testimony

Members of the National Federation of Gaming Workers (Fenaju) were present at the Commission. Sergio Martínez was on behalf of the Parque Hotel Municipal Casino union and made reference to gambling addiction. “Honestly, I have the personal characteristic of being on both sides of the counter: I have been selling games for thirty years and due to circumstances, I am a compulsive gambler in recovery; I know in depth what is coming, ”he began by saying.

“It is somewhat grotesque to say that there are 130 mentally affected players, according to the registry of the Hospital de Clínicas,” he added. “It is totally absurd. Unfortunately, there are thousands. On the subject of online gambling, making a parallel, we could say that we are facing the possibility of introducing the base paste of the game in Uruguay; It's that final." For Martínez, “the online game is going to be played on a bus, in a hospital, on a birthday, at a wake; they will play minors and majors. Unfortunately, we know what it is to sell the door and window frames of a house to play with; we know because we treat the players. We know what it's like to go play big money with all your decayed teeth and miserable shoes; we know. And this will go further."

A single platform

From the Quinielas Bank it has been recommended that online gaming have a single platform and not one for each company. “I have come to warn that in the face of this new situation, competition is useless for gaming and it is essentially useless, because gaming involves a health hazard, it is an addiction issue, and then the laws of liberalism do not work here and, on the contrary, they are dangerous.” This was said by Roberto Palermo, president of the Bank of Montevideo, before the legislators.

The director of Casinos announced that a single online gaming platform will be created, with the State and mixed exploitation entities. For Palermo, the rest of the private ones that are enabled for the exploitation of online gambling, and even the casino of the Municipality of Montevideo, should be added to this platform.

“Uruguay would be a beacon, an example in Latin America, because we would be legislating just like some advanced countries, such as Finland and Austria, giving an example to Brazil and Chile, because this theory of the gaming industry lobbying for the opening of markets is everywhere,” he said. He warned that if a single platform is not enabled “a social mess like the one that happened in Italy is going to be generated and we are going to have a very big punishment with this, just like what happened in Spain. Who made the mess? The relatives of the victims did it.