Mixed model would see state-run platform for online gambling in Uruguay
Senator Felipe Carballo’s bill proposes creating a state-run online gambling platform.
Uruguay.– More than three years after the approval of a bill legalising online gambling in Uruguay, a new initiative from the ruling Frente Amplio party aims to revive attempts to regulate the market. Senator Felipe Carballo has introduced a proposal that would see the state directly operate on the market in contrast to an initial vision for a more open regulated market.
The proposal that Carballo’s presented to parliament would create a mixed model under which the state would operator an online gambling platform administered by the National Directorate of Lotteries and Pools (DNLQ).
If approved, the law would also create a National Online Gambling Regulatory Agency as a non-state public entity to consolidate the powers currently dispersed among bodies such as the General Directorate of Casinos, National Directorate of Lotteries and Pools and URSEC.
Its responsibilities would include granting online gambling licences to private operators, overseeing platforms, algorithms and transactions, regulating advertising and marketing, coordinating public health and digital education initiatives, imposing sanctions and revoking licences. It would also implement a National Digital Registry of Gamblers.
The registry will ensure “financial traceability and configurable spending limits,” the proposal states. Meanwhile, the unauthorised exploitation of online gambling for profit would be made a crime, and a National Fund for the Prevention and Treatment of Gambling Addiction would be established to finance assistance, research, education and training.
Currently, only one company is authorised to operate online sports betting in Uruguay: Supermatch, which is under concession from La Banca.
Uruguay’s The Observer cited Carballo as warning: “The expansion of transnational platforms, coupled with the use of cryptocurrencies and virtual private networks (VPNs), has reduced the possibility of exercising effective authority over a sector that, if left unregulated, could generate significant economic, health, and social damage.”
While the DNLQ formally has a regulatory role, its main control tool consists of blocking unauthorised international betting sites,” he adds. According to the senator, this situation has created “a de facto private monopoly” where the State does not directly participate in the profits generated.
The products operated by La Banca, which also include the Quiniela, the Tómbola, and 5 de Oro, occupy the majority of the market, while state activity is limited to operating lotteries whose funds are allocated to health, education, sports, and social security, he says.
A bill introduced by the previous government at the end of 2021 and initially supported by the Frente Amplio establishes in Article 1 that the government, through the General Directorate of Casinos of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, may “provide casino gaming activities such as poker, roulette, slots, among others, existing or to be created, online, via the internet, technological platforms, computer applications, or similar means.”
It also states that “the Executive Branch, in the exercise of its exclusive authority, may grant prior, provisional, and revocable authorization for the provision of the aforementioned activity (…) to casino gaming concessionaires operating in person or to those who may hold such authorization in the future.”
It’s believed that president Yamandú Orsi will want a say in the final shape of the proposal. He has taken a cautious approach and maintains that reforms must be introduced gradually.
