Online gambling in Paraguay: Senate puts back review
The Senate has postponed the planned review of gambling legislation.
Paraguay.- The Paraguayan Senate’s Constitutional Affairs Committee has confirmed the postponement of a review of the country’s gambling legislation. The Committee had been assigned to review legislative changes to Law 1016/1997 proposed by senators Sergio Rojas and Dionisio Amarilla.
The proposal aimed to modernise legislation in order to regulate online gambling. The senators who proposed the amendments argued that the legislation was out of date and was failing to prevent blackmarket gambling. They also wanted to restructure the gambling regulator, Conajzar, following controversy over last year’s sports betting tender, which was declared invalid after the regulator awarded it to Daruma SAM. The regulator was subject to an investigation by CONACOM.
Javier Zacarías Irún, chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, suggested that the proposals submitted failed to resolve contractual disputes and the rights related to monopoly contracts.
In August, the gambling industry association APOJA asked Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay why plans to review gambling amendments had stalled. APOJA president Lorena Rojas had argued that the reforms are needed before the quiniela contract expires to prevent renewal under the same monopoly system.
