Online gaming in Cordoba: Betway no longer in the race; eight groups bidding for a license

The Lotería de Córdoba (Cordoba Lottery) has pre-awarded licenses to operate online gaming and sports betting in the Argentinean province to eight companies. Now, in accordance with the scheduled process, the deadline to file objections is set to conclude, and after this, the concession contracts will be signed.

According to Argentinean news outlet La Voz, of the nine companies that remained in the competition, the one that was left out was the Betway Group, which partnered with Picaperto Online, the latter owned by businessman Nicolás Glazman.

Thus, the eight companies to which the Lotería de Córdoba has pre-awarded the licenses are American company Rush Street Interactive, in association with businessman Daniel Angelici; Casino de Victoria, together with Swedish brand Betsson; Compañía de Entretenimientos y Turismo (CET), partnered with Daruma Sam; and Binbaires and Intralot Internacional, in collaboration with Ondiss.

Also remaining in the race is the company IVISA, which presented itself without international partners; Iberargen, which operates bingo halls in the province of Buenos Aires; and Boldt Group in partnership with SG Digital, and firm Slots Machines of the Slots Group.

According to the public bidding, which initially sought to grant 10 online licenses for a 15-year non-extendable term, now a 15-day term will be opened for the submission of objections.

Authorities of the Loteria de Córdoba during the opening of envelopes.

The Lotería de Cordoba indicated at the time that the concession contract signing would take place on October 11 to become effective on the 18th of the same month. After that, each company will have to inform which games will be available and, once authorized, they will be able to put them into operation.

The ones left out

According to La Voz, Betway was left out for not complying with some points of the bidding terms and conditions. "Among several formal points, the central one from a technical point of view pertains to the specifics of the system it intended to use in Cordoba and, in particular, the reporting and control system, a key piece in the Lottery box," officials detailed.

In addition, the ruling made public on Tuesday pointed out that another aspect was that "Betway presented those technical details in a draft format with observations and written in English."

Previously, in mid-August and after the first opening of envelopes, the Lottery eliminated the operators of Bingo Avellaneda, run by Biyemas, which had presented itself with the international company Skill On Net and a company called Licencias Córdoba.