South America
June 1, 2009
LUCKY NUMBER 13: NEW US$49M. CASINO OPENS IN CHILE
Chile’s
newest casino opened its doors last month.
Operating under a 15-year license, Casino Sol
Calama, located in the Antofagasta
region, cost US$49.8 million to build and houses 392 gaming machines, 21 table
games, 136 bingo positions and a restaurant and bar.
The property is scheduled in the next year to
add a hotel with 117 rooms and a number of non-gaming amenities: including a
convention center, meeting space, a spa and fitness facilities, more
restaurants, a nightclub, a swimming pool and a bowling
alley.
The new casino employs 600 people.
Of the 18 casinos authorized to open under a comprehensive plan of
national regulatory reform, 13 are up and running in Antofagasta, Calama,
Copiapó, Santa Cruz, Mostazal, Talca, Termas de Chillán, Talcahuano, Los
Ángeles, Temuco, Valdivia, Osorno and Punta Arenas.
The five still to come will be located in Ovalle, San Antonio, Rinconada, Castro and Coyhaique
The eight new casinos in operation at the end of last year
generated $25.8 million in gross gaming revenue, most of it from machine
gambling, and paid $4.3 million in direct tax to regional and local
governments. They brought in another $4.1 million in VAT and $2.7 million in
income tax.
Monticello Grand Casino led all properties with 45.1 percent of
the total win. Gran Casino de Copiapó was next at 13.2 percent and Marina del
Sol third at 10.9 percent, followed by Enjoy Antofagasta (10.8 percent), Termas
de Chillán (8.2 percent), Casino Gran Los Ángeles (6.8 percent), Casino de
Colchagua (4.6 percent) and Gran Casino de Talca (0.4
percent).
The casinos recorded a total of 547,440 visits in 2008. Average spend
per visit was about $43.
URUGUAY INVITES PRIVATE-SECTOR CASINO INVESTMENT
The
government of Uruguay
is proposing to modernize and expand the country’s casino industry by inviting
private investment through a tender involving 29 properties operated by the
government’s Casinos del Estado.
National Casino Director Fernando Nopitsch
was quick to point out that implementation of such a “mixed” system involving
commercial companies does not signal a move toward
privatization.
“Particular parties put in the money for the
casino opening with new slots, but the managers will be state officers,” he
explained in a report in the country’s El Pais newspaper.
Rather the collaboration between the private
and public sectors will bring in sorely needed investment which the government
cannot provide, he said.
He noted that of the 2,500 existing EGMs in
state-owned casinos, 1,000 are considered obsolete, while the cost or replacing
even one can approach US$20,000 when taxes are figured in.
CODERE CONFIRMED AS CARRASCO WINNER
Spain’s Codere Group has been
officially confirmed as the winner of a 30-year concession to operate a casino
at Montevideo’s
historic Carrasco Hotel.
A ruling on the hotly disputed concession was
returned by the National Audit
Court without comment, and Montevideo Mayor
Ricardo Ehrlich
signed the approval and forwarded it to
the Department Council, a procedural move that was not expected to hold up the
award.
Codere garnered 79.42 points in the bidding
out of a possible 100, but losing bidder Hyatt-Liberman, which scored 70.64
points, accused the municipal council of a lack of transparency in awarding the
license and claimed the Codere consortium, which includes Sofitel, a division of
French hospitality giant
Accor, failed to measure up in terms of
the city’s own criteria.
Turning the matter over to the court “was a
gesture to guarantee the transparency of the process,” said Jorge Rodriguez,
secretary of the municipal council. “But we were going to go to the council and
then we were going to go to the court again.”
Codere, which operates Uruguay’s
Maronas racetrack and several other gambling and betting venues in the country,
plans to spend US$63 million over the next two years to refurbish the venerable
hotel and install a casino.
GROWTH IN CHILE SPURS FORMATION OF TRADE GROUP
In a sign of increasing sophistication among Chile’s new casino industry, nine
of the new properties have joined forces to form the Chilean Casino
Association.
With the goal of sharing knowledge about what
is essentially a new experience for everyone, the customers included, the group
has identified a number of issues pertinent to fostering a “casino culture” among
consumers.
One thing operators are learning is that
non-gambling attractions are generating more revenues than the games. Hotels,
restaurants and cinemas are major features of the new
casinos.
“This is a time in which more food and drink
is being sold,” said one operator. “It is cheaper to sit in a bar with a drink
than to sit at a slot or at a table game, but people want to have a good time
anyway.”
In this respect, association members have noted
that they feel they are at a certain disadvantage compared with other leisure
businesses because they must charge an entrance fee and are required to provide
bingo, an added expense that generally does not bring in much revenue.
SAGSE PICKS UP KEY ENDORSEMENT
At its
recent annual general meeting the Lotteries and State Casinos of Argentina
(Asociación de Loterías, Quinielas y Casinos Estatales de Argentina) has voted
to support the SAGSE trade show and to participate in the three-day
event.
The vote is significant for SAGSE, the
largest gaming trade show on the continent, because ALEA is one of the largest
and most respected institutions in South American gaming.
SAGSE is held in Buenos Aires. This year’s show commences
September 30 and runs through October 2 and will be staged at the Centro de
Convenciones Costa Salguero.
Organizers Monografie said the 2009 show will
encompass 20,000 square meters of exhibition space and is already 80 percent
sold out.
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