Ecuador: President Correa insists on ban gambling

The question number seven says: "In order to avoid gambling become a social problem, especially in the most vulnerable segments of the population, do you agree on prohibiting gambling in your jurisdiction?”

Although various voices are opposed to this initiative, Correa justified his request to citizens to vote "Yes" to that question. He also explained the five remaining questions of the referendum.

The President said as an example: "You can have a debt for 30 years for a house and are enjoying the house. Suddenly, because of gambling and without receiving anything in return, you lose the house. Is that legal? Is that moral?".

He noted that in Peru there is a proliferation of gambling venues, including in the Amazon there are places that are full of children and adolescents. So he insisted: "You decide whether it is healthy for society." He also found that casinos and gambling halls "are a source of corruption and money laundering."

In this explanation, he said that in countries such as Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Uruguay, Russia and the United States the law bans gambling in different ways. "To cite an example, the law of Canada is estimated a penalty for the owner of the casino and the player, in Mexico there is the Federal Law of Gaming. In Guatemala, the Penal Code punishes the owner of a gambling house,” he argued.

Correa said that the question is unopposed because "now we want to close the casinos and those who defend them are the corrupt press.”

That is why he asked the public not to be manipulated and vote according to their families and for their children. "Not for the interests of a few who run the media and manipulate us.” In Ecuador, the most luxurious casinos are in hotels and are held within the Asociación de Casinos y Bingos del Ecuador (ASCABI).