Representative of the consortium comprised by Hyatt chain and Liberman Group, Marcelo Graniero, questioned the transparency of the tender process and said that the city council "is going to have another failure, like Carmitel II", with regards to the previous and controversial tender concluded by Ehrlich administration. Graniero commented that none of the other three firms interested in the tender (Codere, Tsakos and Pestana) showed to have the economic and financial support demanded by the Council.

Turkish Privatisation Agency will hold an auction for a license to run sports-betting games in the country on August 12. Turkish media conglomerate Dogan Yayin and Italian gaming operator Lottomatica have formed a joint venture to bid for the license, sources said. Greek gaming operator Intralot, which currently runs sport betting in the country in a joint venture with local Turkcell, will also participate in the tender.

Montevideo Mayor, Ricardo Ehrlich, announced the sale of the tender papers for Hotel Casino Carrasco. The aim is to transform Carrasco into a high level tourist attraction, and the construction is about to start in 2009. "After a long procedure, the tender process for Carrasco Hotel Casino has finally opened", pointed Mayor Ehrlich, who announced the tender for Carrasco building. The documents are on sale in the Purchase section of the Montevideo Council (IMM) at a cost of USD 10,000.

Five groups bought the papers with the conditions for the tender of Hotel Casino Carrasco. Montevideo council (IMM) set the opening of the call to acquire the documents, which will close next May 8th. Among the groups that showed interest, are Hyatt chain, Pestana group and Tsakos. Director of Urban Conversion of the council, Hyara Rodríguez, affirmed that there might be more groups interested in the tender.

Last week, the Casino Superintendence (SCJ) received from Rantrur S.A. (Enjoy), located in Castro, Los Lagos region, the first announcement in which a public (limited) company declares its interest to apply for a casino project to one of the three places legally available which will be tendered in 2008. The twelve regions in which the current law allows private investors to make announcements are...

A group of representatives, like Alcibíades Vázquez, is working on the creation of a a bill to allow the reassessment of tender process for the opening and operation of casinos and gambling venues in Panama Republic. Vászquez considered the increment of people with gambling problems was worrying, as well as social consequences for the families.

The new casino tender process in Chile will allow the authorization of three licenses that are still pending from the previous contest, after the Chilean House of Representatives rejected the postponement of the tender until the year 2011, in opposition to the initiative that the government introduced to the Parliament. This way, the Casino Superintendence should be the one to decide the granting of licenses.

The Senate approved this week a bill that authorizes the opening of an international tender process for the casino operation of Carrasco Hotel Casino. The debate was intense and the opposition remarked that it is a “historical contradition” from the left wing, which now boosts privatizations, something that was against their own ideas. Besides, legislator Jorge Gandini, from Partido Blanco, said he was afraid that this tender is “customized, as part of a series of irregularities in local casinos”.