Ecuador officials say referendum vote passed ban on gambling

Affirmative votes to the government proposals exceeded the negative votes in the questions regarding national character made to the citizens, with an advantage from 3 to 11 percentage points, indicated EFE agency.

Question number 7 was related to the casino operation in the country, and the “YES” option finally achieved 45,768% of the votes, with 3,951,787 in favor of the initiative (1,931,672 were men, 2,020,115 women). Besides, the “NO” achieved the 41,683% of the votes, with 3,599,093 votes that intended to keep the gaming industry active in Ecuador (1,792,259 male votes, 1.806.834 female votes.) Blank vote achieved the 7,101% (613,088 votes), and a 5,448% (470.408) spoiled votes.

With the triumph in the referendum, the President has now the control to ban casinos in the country, as well as achieve a legal reform, have more control on the press and extend the protective custody, as well as turning into offense the unjustified private enrichment. The counting of the votes has taken 12 days because electoral authorities had to open around 7,000 ballot boxes due to problems in the counting of votes registered in their respective certificates.