In a statement by Administrator Teófilo Tabar, it has been revealed that Dominican Republic’s Lotería Nacional has terminated its contractual relationship with the national federation of lottery agencies, Fenabanca.
In the next 30 days, the national lottery will suspend the daily draws and broadcasts related to this agreement.
Tabar instructed the President of Fenabanca Rubén Jiménez to talk to the Ministry of Finance in order to figure out how to carry out draws once the contract with the lottery is no longer in place.
“The Lotería Nacional will only carry out its own draws as established,” said Tabar in the statement, which was also addressed to the Minister of Finance José Manuel Vicente and the Dominican President Luis Abinader.
In an interview with Diario Libre, the administrator assured that the contracts with Fenabanca were signed “without the endorsement of the Executive branch,” thus “there is no special power, there is no decree, these are decisions made by the [former] administrator with a sector.” Additionally, he said that he believes these contracts lack any relevance, and “that is why I’m ignoring them.”
On the other hand, Tabar revealed that daily draws cost more than $24m pesos per month, citing this as one of the reasons why he’s not contemplating going back on his decision. “Either the draws are removed or the next day I resign,” he warned.
After receiving the letter, the head of Fenabanca said that he will approach Tabar to ask him to reevaluate his decision. In case they don’t reach an agreement, he assured that he will start legal actions to ensure that they comply with the contracts.
“The purpose of the lottery is to carry out draws. I have a commercial agreement: I give you a product and you pay for it. That’s not free, there’s a contract that establishes it,” Jiménez said.
“We met with Tabar once and he told us that this wasn’t a decision from the Ministry of Finance or the President, but a personal one,” he added.
