Uruguay: Future of Casino Parque Hotel in doubt in Montevideo

“It does not make sense for the Intendancy to maintain a room when there are more than 30 that are administered by the State,” Nopitsch said, addressing the controversy caused by statements made recently by Hugo Gandoglia, the director of the Montevideo Municipal Casinos.

Nopitsch was talking after municipal employees went on a brief strike in the Parque Hotel in protest after recent statements made by Hugo Gandoglia. During an interview with local media he said that the next administration, should consider the closure of the Parque Rodo municipal casino “since traditional table games no longer seduce new generations”. Afterwards representatives of the union met with the municipal authorities to request the resignation of the official.

“I have no interest in promoting gaming, the government of Montevideo has no interest in promoting gaming, we have an obligation, and we try to do it, to adequately attend the gaming rooms, but I think that the next government of Montevideo, whoever it is, is going to have to make a decision and assess whether it makes sense to manage a small or medium room, such as the Parque Hotel,” said Gandoglia.

Nopitsch emphasised that from 2011 to date casinos in Uruguay have reported profits, and ruled out that the decision was due to a problem that had to do with income. He added that the commune had invested in recent months in new machines and ruled out job losses in the sector.

In Uruguay casinos (apart from the Hotel Enjoy de Punta del Este casino) fall either under the mixed system or are state run. Under the mixed system private investors can set up a casino in a hotel but it is the state that manages and runs the casino for which it receives in return a percentage of casino profits. The mixed system has since 1995 become increasingly popular in Uruguay especially as the wholly state run casinos have been hit by a number of corruption scandals leading in some cases to jail terms. In the wake of these scandals the government looked set to promote the mixed system further and entirely privatise state run casinos. However, there has been a significant change of direction under the leadership of Chá who has initiated a number of renovations of state run casinos.