President Martinelli Responds to Casino Scandal

President Martinelli responds to casino scandal

Story by La Prensa News
President Ricardo Martinelli announced yesterday that it he would cancel the concessions for the operation of slot machine halls awarded directly by the state during the Ernesto Pérez Balladares administration.

"We will work with the Cabinet to approve the cancellation of the licenses that were granted off the cuff," said Martinelli.

In 1996, then President Pérez Balladares awarded three such licenses, bypassing the public bidding process dictated by law, and the favored companies were exempted from any fees.

Lucky Games, the operator of nine casinos and game rooms across the country, received one of those improvised concessions, along with Comput-Bingo and Competiciones Deportivas. The trio of companies have ties with the former president.

Comput-Bingo and Competiciones Deportivas, for instance, include among its shareholders Mario Pérez Balladares, the brother of the erstwhile head-of-state. The two companies run Bingo 90 in the capital's Obarrio neighborhood.

Less than kosher ties between Pérez Balladares and Lucky Games were exposed in an investigative report by this newspaper yesterday.

Since then, the Public Ministry has opened an inquiry into the issue, and the secretary of the Gaming Control Board, Giselle Brea, has ordered an audit of the company's shareholdings.