New Ecuadorian Gambling Laws Close All Casinos And Bingo Games

Socialism has arrived in Ecuador and the picture isn’t pretty. Earlier this week, Ecuadorian Deputy Minister of Internal Security Leonardo Berrezueta ordered the police chiefs of each of the countries provinces to begin enforcing new Ecuadorian gambling laws which forbid all forms of casino gambling.

The police were order to confiscate all property of the casino owners to be destroyed or redistributed among the ‘peasants and factory workers of Socialist Ecuador.’

The laws were a direct result of a popular referendum which passed by a 45% to 41%. Question 7 on the referendum asked citizen of Ecuador whether they wanted to eliminate the ‘foul capitalist casinos which taint the hearts of Ecuadorian workers,” and 45% chose the sweet aroma of Socialism.

According to online gambling news in Ecuador, approximately 3,200 people work in the 32 casinos licensed under Ecuadorian gambling laws which permit only casinos inside 5 star hotels.

In reality, due to a long term lax attitude and corruption, the total number of gambling establishments within the country number over 160 employing close to 25,000 full time workers, according to vice president of the Casino and Bingo Association (ASCABI), Jorge Castro.

So far police have already closed down 55 casinos and online bingo games in Ecuador: 18 in Punjab, 12 in Los Ríos, 7 in Esmeraldas 7, 1 in Pichincha, 2 in Imbabura, 6 in Oro and an equal number in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.

The National Association of Casino Arcade Owners and Managers (Anpasju) described the move as unconstitutional and illegal as casino are regulated by the Gaming and Tourism Act which can only be amended by the National Assembly according to the Ecuadorian constitution.

“We are aware that they should respect what the people decided in the referendum this past May 7, but the Government said there would be a year for the casinos to liquidate assets but now the Socialists lied and are even ordering all the gaming machines to be confiscated, “said Mary Augusta Diaz, president of Anpasju.

This is the first step in Ecuadorian president’s Rafael Correa dream of turning Ecuador into a Socialist paradise such as Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea. Next on the agenda will be the appropriation of the majority of private industries followed by the redistribution of wealth.

Currently over 100,000 employees of the closed casinos as well as their dependents are without a source of income with more expected to follow as the unworkable theories of Karl Marx are yet again tested out on a new batch of unfortunates.