Telekino May Become Available Outside Buenos Aires Agencies
Argentina’s Chamber of Official Agents of Lottery and Allied Buenos Aires (CAOLAB) are on high alert as telekino games may become available for betting outside of its purview. A company known as Juegos Internacionales SA has made it known that it intends to offer telekino within the Buenos Aires province soon. CAOLAB is firmly opposed to the situation; however, it may be out of its control.
Juegos Internacionales SA will need the Lottery Institute’s stamp of approval to operate telekino in Buenos Aires, contrary to its executives’ beliefs. Taylor R/Unsplash
CAOLAB’s problem with Juegos Internacionales
Juegos Internacionales SA is a company that offers betting and various games of chance. It also works without sports, entertainment, arts and culture. It offers its wares both digitally, via its online platform, as well as through physical kiosks in Argentina. Its kiosks are originally point-of-service stations that operate “Posnet,” allowing customers to buy from retailers without physically being in the same space. These kiosks are also known as SUBE Card recharge stations; SUBE is the contactless card that people in Buenos Aires use for public transport.
Crucially, Juegos Internacionales SA is not a part of CAOLAB. CAOLAB is the official organization for those offering lottery and similar games in Buenos Aires. Therefore the company’s plans to offer telekino games might not be fully in accordance with laws in the province. This is what CAOLAB seeks to clarify as soon as possible, with the help of local administration and the court of law, if necessary.
When CAOLAB first heard news of the company’s telekino plans, its Board of Directors asked an executive to speak to them and clarify what was in store. This executive visited CAOLAB and confirmed that not only does the company already have the infrastructure in place to offer telekino games soon, but it does not believe it necessary to ask for authorization from Buenos Aires’ Lottery Institute to do so.
The Lottery Institute is the province’s gaming authority for this particular modality. It is highly unusual, to say the least, that an operator would go forward with providing games without its approval. CAOLAB reiterated that this move would be unacceptable and not in accordance with the province’s gaming regulations.
As such, its Board of Directors, including leader Marcelo Iglesias, shared that they will do whatever is within their power to stop Juegos Internacionales SA’s telekino distribution plans. The board cited the use of legal, political, and journalistic means in order to fight the project.
Authorization is necessary
It is hard to say how the two entities ended up in this position. According to CAOLAB, Juegos Internacionales SA’s representative was surprised by the chamber’s opposition to the project. The company seems not to have taken into account the official channels for providing telekino services whatsoever, but moved forward blithely with the plans.
Based on the meeting with CAOLAB, it seems those within the company are still keen to proceed. However, it is likely they will come across problems. Now that CAOLAB has been alerted, the Lottery Institute has also confirmed that any entities wanting to offer the game will need its official stamp of approval first.
CAOLAB took this news to mean that this authorization will probably not be granted, which suits its board well. The group’s hard stance on this stems from the fact that such games should be distributed only through official lottery agencies, in other words, the ones within its network. CAOLAB has also been in contact with the owners of telekino to make sure they are alert to the issue as well, and ideally do not grant Juegos Internacionales SA permission to distribute the game.
Telekino is a type of lottery draw in which 15 balls are drawn from a rack of 25. If a player hits all 15 balls in order, they win the maximum amount of prize money available. Like most lotteries, if no winner is found, the prize money increases on to the next week. The draw typically takes place in Argentina every Sunday.
