It has been 14 years since Ecuador had legal land-based casinos, but a public referendum in November will propose the return of casinos within five-star resorts. Is the market ready?
Land-based casinos could be operational in Ecuador within three months if the sector is re-legalised via a public referendum expected to take place in November.
Land-based gambling was banned in Ecuador in 2011 through a referendum under then-President Rafael Correa.
But the possible return of casinos within five-star resorts has been included in the upcoming referendum, which is a typical method for enforcing new laws and economic and political measures in the South American country.
The plans come under new proposals from current Ecuador President Daniel Noboa.
On 5 August, Noboa set out seven questions to be included in the upcoming referendum, including whether to allow casinos in five-star hotels and whether the sector should be taxed at a rate of 25% of sales.
This tax revenue would go towards the financing of programmes to combat chronic child malnutrition and school feeding.
The question was at first rejected by Ecuador’s Constitutional Court because it was considered unclear for the public and included three topics in one question.
However, the question was then reformulated to focus on just the legalisation of gambling in five-star hotels. This was subsequently approved by the Constitutional Court.
Casino infrastructure is already in place, says local expert
The referendum is set to take place on 16 November and, should the re-legalisation of casinos receive the required support, Juan Carlos Loza Mendoza, head of LatAm gambling sales at ProntoPaga, predicts it won’t be long before land-based gambling makes a return to Ecuador.
“I think it will just be a couple months,” Mendoza tells iGB. “The infrastructure is ready. The culture is ready. Sports betting sites and online casinos are now working on it.
“The financial ecosystem and the payment ecosystem is ready to receive [land-based gambling]. There is a lot of protection [for] a big amount of money that will be processe