Peru's regulatory body counts more than 1,300 inspections of game rooms and slot machines this year
Peru’s General Directorate of Casino Games and Slots, the country’s regulatory body, reported that it carried out 1,346 inspection visits to more than 700 authorized slot machines between January and August 2022.
In a statement, the regulatory body of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) said that, based on the inspection visits, 36 administrative sanction procedures were initiated.
Of these, “30 companies that own game rooms, many of them located in the interior of the country, were fined a total of 150 Fiscal Units (ITU), or 690,000 soles”, around US$ 177,700.
Likewise, the Mincetur board pointed out that “eight of these 30 companies were sanctioned for operating unauthorized slot machines and seven for allowing the entry of persons registered in the Registry of Persons Prohibited from Being in Casinos”.
In addition, they specified that “four of them were fined for failing to keep recordings from their video system for a period of 15 days, and one for failing to pay the offered premiums in a timely manner.”
They added that as the oversight body of the System for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (SPLAFT), “Mincetur sanctioned ten companies that did not submit the Annual Compliance Report this year.”
In this regard, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sánchez, said: “It is important to highlight, as a competent authority, the majority compliance with the rules that govern the operation of casino games and slot machines in the country.”
“We must remember that it is an activity with an important economic movement, which in the last 16 years has allowed the Peruvian State to collect more than 3,000 million soles (US$ 772.5 million), capital destined for public works and the promotion of sport”, he observed. he.
Mincetur also said that “these inspection visits are part of the preventive actions promoted by the government of President Pedro Castillo”. They indicated that “every week, a team of employees of the institution makes unannounced visits to game rooms in all regions of Peru, to verify strict compliance with the rules that regulate this activity”.
Regarding the current situation in the country, they indicated that, “to date, there are 19 casino rooms and 714 slot machines in Peru. In total, they operate 72,823 slot machines, all linked by the SUCTR software with Mincetur and Sunat”.
Finally, they argued that “in the event of unauthorized operation of slot machines, the entity is competent to close the gaming rooms and confiscate the machines, requiring the support of the Peruvian National Police and the Public Ministry”.