“State funds in Paraguay will be severely impacted unless sports betting licences start operating"

Last Thursday, the President of Paraguay Horacio Cartes met with the Director of the National Committee on Gambling (Conajzar), Javier Balbuena. The agenda swirled around the performance of the General Comptrollership of the Republic (GCR) after operator Daruma Sam (Apostala) was granted a sports betting licence. On their part, the regulating agency is voting on the tender bidding that will lead to the exploitation of sports betting activities.

Last week, the newspaper ABC Color raised concern over irregularities in the licensing process, quoting General Director of Public Procurement of GCR, Ilse González -who could not comment further "since the Comptroller's signature is missing," she explained. Should these allegations be confirmed, operator Yem S.A. would be validated in their court appeal to reverse Daruma Sam's licensing.

Yogonet contacted Javier Balbuena, Director of Conajzar, to know his views on the information disclosed by ABC Color: “I am not aware about the contents of the decision. I can say very little. I do think, however, it is unprofessional on the part of the Comptrollership to comment on an unfinished report. If the information is true, the consequences to the state would be regrettable. The current canon ratio charged per sports bet is 4% of the awarded amount, about USD 141.700 (800 million Guaranis). Once the licencing process concludes, the amount charged per win will be 21%, about USD 619.900 (more than 3.500 million Guaranis), depending on sales and payment volume of the prizes”.

ABC Color also reported about the meeing between Horacio Cartes and Javier Balbuena at the presidential palace last Thursday. The Director of Conajzar delved into the motivations behind the meeting: “I was there to discuss the performance of the General Comptrollership on the case of sports betting because I believe it is unprofessional on their part to announce, on a weekly basis and in conferences called to that purpose, that the licensing report will be signed and it has not been released yet. They received the necessary information 90 days ago. State funds will be severely impacted unless sports betting licences are allowed."

"It is worth mentioning that not a single coin will be left at Conajzar: 50% would flow into the Secretary of Sports and the remainings are distributed between the Committee for Charity and Social Welfare (DIBEN), provinces and municipalities, and the Public Treasury”, emphasized Balbuena.