Preliminary draft for the regulation of online gambling in Peru
The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism presented to the Council of Ministers a first advance for the draft law that would regulate online bookmakers and casinos. Peru will seek to control the industry and provide better conditions for both operators and users. It is hoped that the legislation may become effective this year.
2 out of 3 Peruvians prefer online gambling to traditional. ©ZonaFutbolPeru/Pixabay
A regulation for an active industry
After several approaches to the sector, the Peruvian authorities are ready to take the relevant steps in the legal regulation of online gambling . The person in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), Roberto Sánchez, has presented a preliminary draft law which will regulate the activity of sports betting and Internet gambling providers. It is a measure that companies are claiming for a long time, and that will have numerous advantages for the local economy.
This is a productive sector that, according to the figures calculated in 2020, a year of particularly low volume, moved about 4,500 million Peruvian soles (about US $ 1,200 million). Institutes measuring the area calculate that in Peru, about 150,000 soles are played per day (more than US$40,000). According to these figures, the state expects to collect about 160 million annually (more than US$40 million).
Currently, gaming platforms have licenses from Malta or Gibraltar, among other enclaves of the industry. This means that the Peruvian state does not manage to participate in any type of tax collection. With the new regulations, the industry levy would be destined to key areas for the development of the country, under a 12% level of income tax . Minister Roberto Sánchez clarified that this is a tentative percentage, which could rise even more.
In the same sense, Sánchez added that the measure is aligned with the policies of the Executive Branch. The Peruvian President, Pedro Castillo, has a liberal view on the market and its stakeholders .
Legalization would provide security guarantees. The law implies the transparency of funds of economic actors which are part, which reduces the risk of money laundering and other financial crimes.
More about the legislation
This program is the necessary stage for the development of the comprehensive gambling law in Peru. With long-established land-based casinos, and a wide audience that participates in gambling, it seems to be the ideal time to the effective settlement of digital providers . The preliminary draft of the Mincetur must still be discussed by the Council of Ministers at its successive meetings.
Above all, the Executive Branch has its sights set on reducing the fraud related to deregulated gambling . This includes suspicious transactions, the financing of illicit activities, and the offering of fake services. In addition, the State will be able to more concretely measure the income of companies, and thus it will be possible to tax them accordingly.
The law will also have beneficial for social action and effective practice of punters. The preliminary project has paragraphs relating to responsible gambling guidelines , which today depend solely on the action of private. The General Directorate of Games would be the entity in charge of issuing licenses and carrying out the supervision of the enabled companies.
Several previous attempts to regulate the industry
It is not the first time that the Peruvian state has taken steps in search of online gambling legislation. It is a business that exists all over the world, and that in Latin America is beginning to be regulated progressively. Peru is one of the most auspicious markets: according to the Attach Consultancy, two out of three players prefer online betting before the traditional ones.
That is why there are already several companies installed commercially. DoradoBet, for example, sponsors eight professional teams in the country. Betcris and Betway are going the same way, with several agreements already concluded in first division football . Betsson, for his part, it has acquired the Peruvian casino Inkabet .
Thus, with so much presence of the companies of the area in the market, in the last four years there were six attempts to regulate the subject , but they did not come to fruition. Among them, there is the 3397/2018-CR project presented by Percy Alcalá, the 3415/2018-CR project by Leyla Chihuán, and the 03715/2018-CR project by Miguel Torres, all in 2018. They were followed by Walter Ascona's 7237/2020-CR project; two more were presented in 2021. This year, all the authorities seem to agree that it is the right time for the activity to be defined in the legal framework.
