South America News Round Up

A police-raid in Venezuela has seen an illicit gambling venue closed down. Officers of the Directorate for Intelligence and Strategy (DIS) seized 18 slot machines at a house in Guárico state last month.

Meanwhile, equipment investment firm Bravo Multinational has announced that it will purchase 500 slot and video poker gaming machines from a casino operator in Nicaragua. Centro de Entretenimiento y Diversion Mombacho (CEDM) will transfer the machines to Bravo ownership in a part stock and part seller financed transaction. All of the machines in question have already been fully nationalised (with all import tax already paid) and will continue to operate at CEDM venues under a long-term lease up until 2033.

Finally, in Chile, the chief financial officer of the new Sun International/Dreams SA entity has told a local newspaper that the company plans to spend $300m (E268m) in expanding its current Latin America portfolio. Speaking to Diario Financiero, Claudio Tessada said that the key focus would be on growing business throughout Chile and Brazil and – more immediately – Peru. “Brazil is in the process of legalisation of gambling and in Chile there is much ambiguity in the authorities,” he said. “So for now we will focus on Peru.”