[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1 link=same] [bsa_pro_ad_space id=2]

Skip to Content

Operator News

Panama – Panama records slight increase in gaming

By - 17 November 2017

During the first nine months of the year a total of US$S1,710m was bet in Panama on games regulated by the Gaming Control Board (JCJ) compared to US$1,683m in 2016. The increase of US$27m – a 1.6 per cent at the close of the third quarter – is the highest increase of the year.

The largest increase in bets – US$1,483m – was recorded in type A slot parlours which house type A slot machines. These slot machines do not have a payout ceiling and may be present in type A slot parlours as well as casinos. Type A slot parlours are in the main controlled by company Gaming & Services of Panama, which manages 27 slot parlours rooms and come under the “Fantastic” brand name. Meanwhile gambling via table games, which by law can also only be located in fully fledged casinos, stood at US$145.9m. Other games such as bingo, sports betting, as well as gaming at the Presidente Remón Racetrack and racino stood at US$58.9m. This figure is lower than the US$64.2m gambled between January and September 2016. The data did not include slot machines classified as Type C (slot machines which may only pay a maximum of US$200 per machine in prizes).

According to Antonio Alfaro President of the Association of Managers of Gaming the reason for the increase had no logical explanation but is something that “happens every year in the third quarter.”
However, Yelitza Amador, Executive Secretary of the Panamanian Games of Chance Association, told local daily La Prensa that it was a seasonality issue. “The first quarter is lower due to carnivals and in the second there is Holy Week, and in the third quarter there are more calendar days.”

Either way, the rise in gaming is good news for the industry, which has experienced a number of setbacks of late. In August, it was revealed that for the third time in a row tax income collected by the board had fallen for the month of July and stood at US$44m for the first seven months of the year – a year on year decrease of 5.5 per cent.

Share via
Copy link