After a week with police operatives in Ecuador, Tourism Minister, María Isabel Salvador, reassured that, according to the Tourism Law “slots should only work in five-star casino hotels, because they are an entertainment for tourists”.

More than 1,500 illegal slots have been imported in an illegal way, and the Ecuadorian police seized them in the cities of Quito, Guayaquil, Esmeraldas and Loja, as part of the first phase in the control of the illegal use of games of chance.

240 machines were seized in Quito, the capital city of the country, and in the province of Pichincha, 620 in Guayaquil and the rest in the cities of Esmeraldas and Loja. According to the police, slots are surveilled by staff of the Army and once the Attorney’s Office determines the responsibilities, they will be destroyed.

Gustavo Larrea, minister of the government, said that operatives will continue with the aim to protect children and youngsters form an addition to games of chance. Altough he stated that people in charge of bringing these type of machines to the country have not been caught, illegal casinos have been closed and the machines have been seized. Besides, the Minister of Economical and Social Inclusion, Jeannette Sánchez, recommended the creation of centres of control so cityzens may report the opening of this illegal sites.