Operator News
Chile – Chile’s FIDEN plans to clean up illegal sector
By Phil - 27 July 2016
The Association of Operators, Manufacturers and Importers of Electronic Entertainment an interest group for the SWP (Skill with Prizes) industry; (FIDEN) is preparing a new proposal which would regulate the sector throughout Chile.
According to the proposal all SWP machines outside of casinos would be monitored, controlled and taxed by a new regulator and would be bound by municipal ordinances.
Vice President of FIDEN Sebastián Salazar said that the support of the municipal government was vital for the success of the new bill. The initiative, which will be developed with a number of local municipalities, will eventually be submitted to the Executive branch as a bill. If the project becomes law then a total of 400,000 SWP machines could become part of the new regime according to FIDEN.
Last week the Chilean Gaming Board (SJC) released the results of its first ever survey into gaming machines operating outside of casinos. The wide ranging study revealed that there are now more than 33 thousand gambling machines operating illegally in Chile. The results of the study have now been delivered to the 88 respective municipalities where these machines were found to be operating so that appropriate measures may be taken to prevent the growth of illegal gambling.
However, local mayors in Chile say there is little they can do to control gambling machines operating outside of casinos. Mayor of the city of Curicó Javier Muñoz, where there are 1,450 illegal gambling machines, said: “We have no authority on the subject as there are no rules.”
Meanwhile Mayor of Temuco Miguel Becker, which has 1,306 machines according to the results of the latest study, also said that there was little he could do to combat illegal gambling machines: “Yet we are making efforts to eliminate these machines with the SJC,” he said.
For the purposes of the study gaming halls were defined as those businesses which had been granted a municipal licence and which operated gaming machines as their primary activity regardless of the number of slot machines on site. This, however, excluded the so called “neighbourhood shops” that were allowed to house gaming machines, but where gaming did not make up its main line of business. The new study identified a number of different categories of games in these businesses which clearly constituted gambling. These included a wide variation of video poker, lotteries and bingo as well as coin pusher games.
