CAOLAB insists that the decisions the government made to close official lottery agencies do not take into account the effects this will have on agencies and their workers

In view of the decision of the Argentine Government to keep the shops and activities of the official lottery agencies of Greater Buenos Aires closed due to the recent pandemic, after the same agencies were recently authorised to open their doors, the Cámara de Agentes Oficiales de Lotería y Afines Bonarense (CAOLAB) requested, last Monday July 6, the resumption of activities of official lottery agencies of the Province of Buenos Aires.

In their eyes, the government’s decision does not take into account the effects it will have on the agencies and their workers, warning that the decision, taken for health measures is inconsistent and that for people it is ‘more likely to be infected by going to play clandestine lottery’ than when buying at the agencies.

The government’s decision, considered ‘incomprehensible’ by CAOLAB, was taken because ‘they are local businesses, with a strict protocol’ and in response to this, Marcelo Iglesias, head of CAOLAB, mentioned that ‘we believe it is a total incoherence because all the businesses were prepared to avoid contacts, and we have invested a fortune to comply with the protocol’ and asked himself: ‘If you can open to collect a tax or a service, why not let people take a bet they keep playing? Iglesias reaffirmed that for him this measure is incomprehensible, since betting agencies have ‘more biosecurity measures, without crowding and with the best protocol at the national level,’ making it easier to spread to other establishments, emphasising that if people want to gamble, they will probably continue to do so, but in this case illegally, even letting the gambling dealer into their homes, radically increasing the lack of health security, which could be avoided by opening the agencies. CAOLAB, faced with this mandatory isolation, continues to seek measures to overcome the economic consequences that this break has had on the agencies, mentioning to the Buenos Aires Chief of Staff, Carlos Bianco, that the loan they offer is not operational for the gambling sector. Among the proposals made at the beginning of May, when the measures against the pandemic began to occur, the possibility was proposed that the provincial government would finance the AMBA agencies in Ciudad and Gran Buenos Aires.  ‘We prioritise the opening of the agencies in the metropolitan area, but if they maintain this intransigent position, we intend to study all available mechanisms in order to maintain all sources of work, such as financing with a fund from the collection of the agencies that remain open’.

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