Codere obtains a license to operate online in Buenos Aires
In the absence of completing some bureaucratic and operational steps, the Spanish company Codere is about to get a license to operate online casino games in the city of Buenos Aires, after the Legislature approved a resolution of the Buenos Aires Lottery (LOTBA) for the modification of the rule that regulates the granting of licenses for online gambling.
In-person gambling halls and physical casinos can now apply for an online license in the city of Buenos Aires as approved by the Buenos Aires Legislature. Codere has been one of the first operators to take advantage of the new regulations. ©HalloweenHJB/Pixabay
The legislative amendment now approved it can be caused by the strict confinement that the city of Buenos Aires goes through, being Argentina one of the worst affected countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, having widely exceeded one million cases.
Modification of the capital regulation
The regulation approved by law in 2018 that allows the exploitation of bets to online platforms it would not have yet been implemented in the scope of the city of Buenos Aires , although it is expected to do so by the end of the year. Given that gambling and betting parlors continue to be closed due to the sanitary restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, the Buenos Aires Legislature decided to endorse at the request of the Buenos Aires Lottery, Sociedad del Estado (LOTBA), a series of provisions that grant face-to-face salons the possibility of operating online gambling.
The step is a real achievement , especially since the progress made in the award of up to seven licenses to operate in the Buenos Aires province have been stalled since Axel Kicillof he took over the government of the province in December last year. Kicillof would not yet have been defined in this regard.
Thanks to this reform, face-to-face operators in the city can apply for an online license under a mixed exploitation regime, cases of the Palermo Hippodrome and the Floating Casino of Puerto Madero, of which he owns Manuel Lao Hernández , the former owner of Cirsa, the company behind the Spanish bookmaker Sportium.
In addition, the Buenos Aires Legislature has stressed that permits should not be granted to those who are in open judicial proceedings for cases of corruption, crimes against the public administration or money laundering, which is known as initiative Clean Sheet , which targets entrepreneurs close to the kirchnerism and accused of corruption.
The city government hopes to raise about 500 million pesos a year in concept of taxes for online activity. However, there have also been critical voices that would have disapproved of the Legislature opening up to online gambling now that the pandemic has confined the population that is exposed even more to the dangers of internet gambling addiction. The Buenos Aires law on the prevention of gambling addiction was also approved at the same session of the Legislature.
Codere strengthens in Latin America
For the Spanish company Codere, which recently suffered some other setback in its Latin American business, this is very good news. Codere it has numerous face-to-face bingo rooms in the city of Buenos Aires , which are currently closed due to widespread confinement. From the company they wanted to guarantee that they work to optimize the safety and well-being of customers preparing for the reopening of the premises, which still has no date.
That is why the decision of the Legislature is even more important. The long-awaited opening of Buenos Aires to online gambling is now a reality and the Spanish company is one of the best placed to obtain a license. The Online Gaming Platform Implementation Program presented by Codere it has been approved by the city Government through its public body, the LOTBA. Codere is the first company to achieve this. There are still a few more steps, largely technical-operational, but much of the way has already been done.
Added to the physical presence, constituting Argentina one of the main markets today for Codere, whose turnover in the country exceeded 300 million euros in the past year, online gaming has become one of the pillars of Codere's expansion in Latin American regulated markets. This was expressed by Bernardo Chena, regional manager of Codere Latin America, in a press release :
“this milestone highlights the strength of the group, the quality of its offer and the viability of Codere's online expansion project in Latin America.”
