Bolivia: The House of Representatives approves a project that would ban gambling

“It had been an exorbitant growth of these centers without benefiting the society or the state”, said the representative of Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS).
 
Torrico informed that the bill prohibits, in the whole national territory, the operation of games of chance developed in a mechanical way or through the use of machines, instruments, elements or brackets of any type of technology with the aim to obtain a prize or which involves big amounts of money, properties or valuable objects in accordance with an uncertain result.
 
Besides, the Bolivian Penal Code includes an article that sanctions those who "with the aim to obtain an improper benefit for themselves or for a third party that come from crimes connected to the illegal operation of games of chance, will be punished with an imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of 60 to 200 days".
 
According to the temporary regulations of that document, once approved in the House of Senators and from the promulgation of the Law, all the operating licenses granted by Bolivia National Lottery (Lonabol) will be revoked.
 
It also grants a 30-day deadline to companies that perform this activity, for them to remove from the country all the machines and furniture used in bingos and casinos, maily located in the city of Santa Cruz.
 
In Bolivia, technological limitations cause a poor control of slots and other games of chance, intensified by the incipient legal base, according to Lonabol.