Call For Costa Rican Regulation

Published: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

CALL FOR COSTA RICAN ONLINE GAMBLING REGULATION

Need to establish standards and limits says Costa Rican Electronic Gambling Association

The shut-down of the BetonSports US-facing business (see previous Online -Casinos.com and InfoPowa reports) and its consequences for online gambling companies based in Costa Rica has prompted a call for more government involvement by the Costa Rican Electronic Gambling Association's president Eduardo Agami.

Agami said Friday his association will lobby the Costa Rican government for support to remain open following the closure of BetonSports, one of the top online casino firms operating in the country, following its legal problems in the United States. BetonSports employs nearly 2.000 people in the small South American country, and announced Friday that it was shutting down its operations.

Agami pointed out that there are more than 200 other online casino and gambling companies still in operation and employing a total of 10.000 people in Costa Rica, where the online gambling industry is unregulated.

"The case is between them [the Costa Rican government] and the U.S. government," Agami said, adding that the online casino industry's fate was in the hands of Costa Rican officials.

Agami said his association's members planned to analyse the situation and work on a plan to calm the fears of employees, the clients and the government.

Costa Rican Justice Minister Laura Chinchilla said recently the industry needs "serious regulation."

Agami agrees: "We believe that the industry could be productive for Costa Rica and should be allowed," he said. "Here they need to establish the limits."