Online gaming in Uruguay: "The controls proposed in the bill are weak and insufficient"

The draft bill for the regulation of online gambling in Uruguay continues generating controversy and adding opinions for and against it. Now, congressman Iván Posada stated that the controls proposed by the bill are "weak and insufficient".

The observations of the parliamentarian of the government coalition were made after an appearance of representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Finance before the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.

Congressman Iván Posada (Independent Party) assured that he has a critical view of the project and that his party will reject the controls proposed in the text for being "weak" and "insufficient".

La Comisión de Hacienda integrada por los diputados @tatoviviano (Pte), @SValdomir609 (Vicepte), @Sebandujar, @bettianadiazrey, Adriana González, @SaltoAlvaroLima, @GonzaloMujica17, @tato_olmos, @APerrone510, @IvanPosada33 y @Dip_ConradoRod; recibió Autoridades del @mef_Uruguay pic.twitter.com/twoqXglJcW

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According to the legislator, the fact that the Internal Audit of the Nation (AIN) will be in charge of auditing private licensees and "controlling how their platforms work" leaves the State "at a disadvantage".

On the other hand, Cabildo Abierto, another of the parties of the governing coalition, supported the bill in the Upper House, but Congressman Sebastián Cal announced that he will not vote in favor and said: "It is more than clear to me that there is a rush to approve this". In any case, Cal assured that, instead of the initiative under discussion, he will present his own text, with the support of the whole political system.

Recently, the Uruguayan Inter-Union Workers' Plenary - National Workers' Convention (PIT-CNT) pointed out that the project will have "economic and social consequences". In addition, it proposed an alternative project that would establish a single platform, to be managed by the State and to which private companies would have to upload their servers.

About the project

It is worth mentioning that in mid-August, the Chamber of Senators granted half sanction to the bill which authorizes the State and the casinos located in Uruguay to operate the gaming and betting activity under the online modality.

The approved text establishes in article 2 that the authorization for the operators, both public and private, to exploit online gaming and betting "will be conditioned" to the fact that they have "an operative and authorized on-site establishment for on-site gaming" and that "the requirements established by the regulation and those set forth in the concession contract are complied with".

The project also establishes that "those who in the future acquire the quality of casino games concessionaires in the in-person modality may have access to an authorization to operate such games under the online modality, prior to the investment, although they may not start the online modality until the approved investment is verified and the operation of the in-person game begins".