On Tuesday, July 8th, the envelopes containing the proposals within the framework of the bidding for the control of slot machines in seven casinos of the province of Buenos Aires were opened.
The event took place at the Drawing Room of the Institute of Lottery and Casinos of the province, as part of the public bidding process for 20 years, and was attended by authorities of the Institute, the Central Casino, and union representatives.
The Director of Legal Affairs, Sebastián Silvestre, alongside the notary Claudia Alejandra Defelito, headed the opening of the envelopes with the offers "for the contracting of the provision and maintenance of automated electronic gaming machines, their control, remodeling, construction and/or transfer and enhancement of the province's gaming halls."
With the opening of the envelopes, proposals were confirmed for four of the seven gambling halls in process, since the three casinos that require greater infrastructure investment (Sierra de la Ventana, Mar de Ajó, and Necochea) did not have bids.
For the casinos of Tandil and Miramar, the only bidder was the company Boldt, which already operates both halls, while for the Hermitage Casino in Mar del Plata, that company will compete with Casino Victoria, owned by businessman Daniel Mautone.
Boldt today also operates the slots in the gaming hall of Hotel Sasso, which is currently under the control of the Union of Tourism, Hotel and Gastronomic Workers of the Argentine Republic (UTHGRA) in Mar del Plata; however, in this case it was the gastronomic union itself, led by Luis Barrionuevo, who presented as the only bidder, in a Temporary Joint Venture (UTE) with the firm Yukon.
As for the casinos that were left without bidders in this bidding, for Sierra de la Ventana, there are advanced conversations for a possible presentation in the short term, while a new bidding is foreseen for Mar de Ajó and Necochea.
At present, the casino in Mar de Ajó is closed, and the one in Necochea has only the table games sector open, but no slots in operation. In both halls, the upgrades to restore the value are very necessary, as well as in Sierra de la Ventana, since the casino stopped operating after the storm that hit the region in March, which aggravated the deterioration of the building.