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Uruguay – Uruguay makes move to block offshore operators

The Director of Lotteries and Quinielas (DNLQ), Luis Gama has announced that the agency is working together with a number of different organisations to detect online gambling sites, and announced that “blocking of several of these pages will be effective” in the next few days. Regulations in force in the country prohibit any type of betting not specifically authorized by law.

The working group is made up of members of the Communications Services Regulatory Unit (URSEC), telephone companies, credit card companies and the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU).

The DNLQ has already compiled a list of sites where Uruguayans can play online which will now be blocked, Gama told local daily El País. Although the prohibition of bets not authorized by the State derives from previous legislation this has been reinforced in recent months via both an executive decree as well two articles included in the new Accountability Law, which was put forward by the Executive branch. The law is designed to balance the federal budget and support the country’s projected growth, and impacts both individuals and companies.

Prema zakonu “pružanje usluga putem interneta, tehnoloških platformi i računalnih aplikacija, koje se odnose na online kockanje ili klađenje” sada je protuzakonito.

Dužnosnik je jasno dao do znanja da je jedina dopuštena online platforma za igranje putem Supermatcha. Supermatch, koji je počeo s radom u listopadu 2005., prva je i jedina službeno odobrena stranica za sportsko klađenje u Urugvaju. Stranica, koja se vodi lokalno i razvijena je lokalno, omogućuje Urugvajcima da se klade na niz sportskih događaja uključujući nogomet iz brojnih liga diljem svijeta. Igra sportskog klađenja Supermatch postigla je najveći rast za igre koje vodi DNLQ u 2017.: ukupno 1,700 milijuna dolara (59.3 milijuna američkih dolara) uloženo je na igru ​​što je utrostručilo rekord prethodnih godina.

Gama also said that after blocking illegal websites and “cleaning up the offer” of online betting, the State might look into the possibility of a tender process for more online gaming licences. Gama said that the most popular offshore betting sites in Uruguay were Bwin and Bet365. Although difficult to determine Gama told El País that Uruguayans gambled between at least US$10m and US$20m a year online.