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Costa Rican Government Reviews Casino Opening Rules

The Costa Rican government has suspended the implementation of new regulations to limit casino opening hours to just 12 hours per day pending a full review of the policy’s wider economic implications currently being undertaken by Costa Rica’s ministry of work.
Confirmation that the Costa Rican government will allow casinos to remain open on a 24-hour basis until at least May 1 represents a victory for the lobbying efforts of Costa Rica’s casino operators since a decree issued in June of last year signaled the government’s intention to dramatically curb casino opening hours in the Central American country.

That June decree was to formally limit casino opening hours to between 6pm at night and 6am as of December 2008, but was predictably met with stiff resistance from local casino operators.

Operators grouped together in the Costa Rican Casino Association (Asociación Costaricense de Casinos) and met with the government in the aftermath of the decree’s enactment to argue that up to a third of the 6,000 Costa Ricans currently employed in the sector could lose their jobs were the opening restrictions to take effect as planned. In July, the association’s president Rafael Vargas told local media that operators had decided not to shed the jobs immediately as they “had faith” they would reach an understanding with the government’s tourism and work ministries.

The Costa Rican government agreed to suspend implementation of the restrictions one week before they were due to take effect on December 27 of last year. An executive decree signed by President Oscar Arias acknowledged that the 6pm-6am limit could directly lead to around 2,000 job losses in the “labour intensive” casino sector, with “indirect consequences for thousands of Costa Rican families”.

The decree states: “Faced with this problematic situation and the risk of provoking a larger level of unemployment in the tourism sector, the Costa Rican Casino Association asked the Government to provide an evaluation of what effects the entry into force of the new regulation’s provisions on the permitted opening times of [casino] venues would have in order to reduce future negative impact on employment rates.

“The [Government] is aware of the current threats to productive sectors [of the economy] and services [industries], and affirms this compromise to adopt the necessary, legitimate measures to protect the integrity and security of Costa Rican workers and to guarantee their rights to obtain dignified, paid employment.”

The decree authorises casinos to remain open round-the-clock until May 1, 2009, pending completion of a study to be conducted by the ministry of work. That study should assess the full impact casino opening restrictions would have on the Costa Rican economy and suggest an alternative proposal as appropriate, the decree says.

According to comments made to the local press by the casino association’s Vargas, operators are willing to accept some mandatory restrictions on opening hours but they are hoping to see last June’s decree amended to permit them to open for at least 16 hours per day.

Further casino regulations passed last June remain unaffected by last December’s decree, however. Among other measures imposing limits on slot machine and table numbers, the legislation from last year ensures that casinos can only be built in minimum three-star, 60-room hotels.