Re-Legalizing the Casinos of Ecuador

Here is my take, if you want to waste your money at a casino fine. But the government should not profit. I am opposed to a moron tax lol.

cccmedia wrote:

Multiple websites that follow Ecuadorian industries are suddenly reporting a so-called "plan" to reopen casinos and gambling centers around the country, said plan having apparently been announced to media outlets yesterday, April 24, 2019.

The plan comes from an association of ex-casino workers of Ecuador .. and is evidently being sent to a government ministry to formulate a detailed offering to go to Presidente Moreno.

The promoters of casino revivals contend that large amounts of money have been flowing to casinos and casino workers in Peru and Colombia since Ecuador shuttered its casinos seven years ago.

To read details of what is going on, so far in español only, google:
reapertura casinos ecuador to find multiple sites announcing the pro-casinos venture.

The announcement comes exactly one month to the day after voters were to decide March 24th whether to support the return of casinos and other gambling establishments for Bahía de Caráquez and Salinas, two coastal communities.

I have not found any reports on what voters may have decided in those elections last month as pertains to casinos.

cccmedia

An article in El Universo indicates that the association of ex-casino workers has already delivered its proposal favoring casinos .. to at least three of Ecuador's ministries.

The association's leadership says legalizing casinos in Ecuador could be achieved with a national referendum or through the Constitutional Court.

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I have repeated the summary contained in my post 40 above because of expat.com's policy of creating a page break before post 41 of its threads.

cccmedia

DrAlvarez wrote:

I can play without restrictions because for most Nigerian casinos the lock has been disabled and this is just awesome news. I found new cool casinos on the review site and continued to make money!

Gosh, Dr. Alvarez,

How impressive.  Glad to learn the lock is "disabled" on the "cool" Nigerian casinos you found "on the review site", enabling you to keep making "great money!" and "radically" change your life.

Let us know when your book comes out.

I hope you are joking. In Nigeria? Making money from gambling?

ja ja ja! 

Casinos are a mixed bag for sure.

If the funds can be designated for something like education, or transportation, whatever--it can be a revenue generator. Right now Ecuador certainly needs a shot in the arm financially with oil industry collapsed, mining as well, tourism shut down.... Correct that there's things like food service, hotels, transportation, other entertainment, as well as the gaming that will generate income for a lot of people. Officials would be wise not to hitch their economic wagon to one thing again (like petrochemicals) but to diversify industries.

The unfortunate gambling addicts will get the worst of it. The whole casino milieu seems to also come with vice like drugs and prostitution, but if those can also be regulated and taxed... just sayin'

It seems that special zones, like maybe Manta, Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, Salinas, and one or two cities higher in the Andes might be a good idea so the government can regulate the activity. Not sure how those zones would be chosen. Also the indigenous people (12 tribes I think would need an allotment of either the industry, or the funds).

Lot of countries have gambling and do well with it: Macau in China, Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Las Vegas and Reno, as well as Mississippi, and Florida and others in the U.S. There's Sao Paulo in Brazil, etc.

When this COVID-19 thing is resolved it might be a good way to jump start the economy, because seriously folks, all Ecuador's got going right now is bananas out of three provinces in the S.W.

Emigrayo66 (Buster)

Analysis.

Four months ago, with a national

strike/shutdown underway and the

economy of Ecuador suffering

from the situation, the future was

looking bleak.

When Presidente Lasso presented

his group of questions for an

early-2023 public referendum,

it was notable that no question

was submitted to query the public

on Sr. Lasso's dream of creating

economic zones to attract

international investors and

allow the construction of

casino-resorts in those zones.

Now, in late October 2022, comes

a hint that a new referendum question

may be included in the revised

group of questions the administration

is working on.

Government minister Francisco Jiménez

has disclosed that a question about

employment and economic development

may be introduced as an additional

question for the public to vote on

in the national referendum planned for

early 2023.

El Presidente is in a stronger position

to advocate for such projects than he

was earlier this year.  His administration

got CONAIE/indígenas to back off its

toxic tactics and participate in

negotiations that have been productive,

if not complete. 

Sr. Lasso's declaration that the

pandemic is over and vaccine requirements

are history .. also gives him.extra muscle

as he presents a revised list of

referendum questions to the

Constitutional Court.

cccmedia in Quito

An online article in La República explaining how to play roulette online without losing it all.

https://www.larepublica.ec/blog/2022/10 … erlo-todo/

Ecuador's new president launches

a surprise -- he wants to bring back

the casino industry.

Presidente Noboa did not campaign on reviving the

long-shuttered casino industry, but it is now clear

that he sees jobs and a boost to the economy

as resulting from such a revival.

El presidente has included an unexpected question

in his just-released list of referendum questions --

should Ecuador bring back casinos and allow

bookmakers and gambling halls in La República?

Under then-president Rafael Correa, existing casinos

were outlawed over a decade ago and were all closed

in a two-step process in 2012 and 2013 after a

referendum tilted against casinos and a subsequent order

was passed to close them all down.  Only Ecuador

and Fidel Castro's Cuba (in the 1950's) have ever closed down

their countries' casino industries and never re-opened to

legal casino action.

Source... www.cuencahighlife.com

Presidente Noboa estimates that up to a quarter million

jobs would be created if Ecuador's casino industry

is re-legalized and new casinos and gambling halls

are opened.

According to the Cuenca Highlife report, Sr. Noboa

says taxing new casinos could bring in millions

of dollars in revenues to the cash-challenged

Ecuadorian government.

--

Noboa's predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, made a couple

of attempts to bring back casinos, but lacked the

political juice to gain the support of the General Assembly

for the effort.  Lasso left office a year and a half early

after making no progress with the legislators al respecto.

Whether Noboa can succeed with casinos where

Lasso got nowhere is unknown .. especially since the

the news of the casino referendum just broke unexpectedly.

The Constitutional Court has to review referendum questions.

Common sense tells one that the casino referendum will

be allowed, since the Court allowed such a question

over ten years ago when Ecuador was in a more rosy

financial condition than it is today.

cccmedia

Tell us more, Sr. Presidente, about the

casinos you envision for Ecuador.

Daniel Noboa's vision for a new landscape

with casinos became a bit clearer in a

radio interview this week.

El presidente said the casinos would be

attached to hotels and operated by companies

that have a history of paying taxes and

following employment laws.  The casinos

will be closely regulated, he said.

Source... www.cuencahighlife.com

Legalized gambling is destructive to society.

Also, how long to do think it will be before the cartels effectively control the casinos?  Casinos are great for money laundering.

This is bad for Ecuadorians, plain and simple.

... how long do you think it would be before the cartels

effectively control the casinos?

Casinos are great for money laundering.This is bad for Ecuadorians, plain and simple.                                                                                                                    -@AmericanoNorte

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The above rationale against casinos and gambling has evidently won the day.

El Presidente has decided to withdraw his referendum question 'al respecto' ..

saying the timing is not right to put the matter of casinos up to a

national vote.

News source... Cuenca HighLife website