Omar Galdurralde, the president of Buenos Aires Province gambling regulator IPLyC, has ordered the reopening of lottery agencies in 115 municipalities following its near three month shut down.
As a result, four draws will now be taking place from Monday to Saturday at 12 pm, 2:30 pm, 5:30 pm and 9 pm, with the working hours of each individual agency set to be decided by its own district, according to the IPLyC.
With this being said, official agencies must comply with the ‘Safety, Hygiene and Health Protocol’ approved by resolution No. 68/2020 of the IPLyC.
The reopening follows on from a request approval by the Chief of Staff of the Buenos Aires Province as well as the support from the mayors, who have asked every agency to comply with the health standards and protocols established by each municipality.
The resolution also sets out that the suspension of bingo halls, casinos and horse racing competitions will remain in place until further notice.
In May, the agencies received the approval to resume activities, but a few hours after reopening, the government backtracked its decision and they were forced to shut down their services again.
During the mandatory lockdown period, the IPLyC also said that it was considering online lotteries to help agencies when physical operations are shut down. While vendors were initially worried that this would replace their jobs, Galdurralde assured that the regulator would not make any decisions that would affect agencies.
The Chamber of Official Agents of Lottery and Related from Buenos Aires (CAOLAB) said: “The project in question, if it comes to life, would have the sole goal of providing a tool to generate revenue during the quarantine. In any case, [Galdurralde] committed to discuss any changes with CAOLAB.”
