Conajzar Reports Record High Figures in 2022
Conajzar, Paraguay’s National Gaming Commission, released its final reports for 2022 at the end of December. The findings were extremely positive for the commission, which reported $19 million USD in income collected during this year. This report was created in part with Paraguay’s Ministry of Finance.
Paraguay’s games agency, Conajzar, has announced its earnings for December 2022. ©micheile dot com/Unsplash
A record-breaking year
Thanks to the confirmation by the Ministry of Finance, Conajzar could confirm it has connected the most it ever has in 2022. The commission has existed officially for 25 years. Its record profits could be due to several factors, from recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic to changes in gaming technology over recent years.
In addition, the commission reported an increase in income for December 2022. The increase for $1.67 million in comparison to the previous month. It was also much higher than previous Decembers — which tend to be profitable months for gaming across the board. The increase compared to December 2021 comprised 12.98%.
This income comes from a number of sources. Mainly, it is collected by game operators, who are licensed by the commission. These physical and legal entities offer games of chance both in physical and digital forms. Part of their proceeds are transferred to the commission according to pre existing agreements, based on current law in Paraguay.
In turn, the money collected will be divided up for important social concerns in the country. These mainly include health services, education advances, social welfare support and community sports. Conajzar mentioned the importance of these tax contributions, both in terms of providers who pay their fair share and the gaming patrons who contribute to this system.
Law 1016/1997 specifies that Conajzar is the commission in charge of handling all issues pertaining to games in Paraguay. Conajzar is therefore also responsible for distributing licenses and making calls for bids on certain aspects of the gaming industry, when it comes to tendered verticals.
Conajzar also determines how providers are taxed, and the commission makes suggestions to Paraguay’s Executive Branch for new gaming officials. However, Conajzar has had its share of controversy over the years. Recently, various operators within the games industries of Paraguay took issue with the commission for lack of oversight.
Legislators also aired their grievances with Conajzar. Some of the issues revolved around a recent slot machine law which the commission has been slow to implement. It has also been alleged that Conajzar allowed the operator TDP to avoid giving its full due tax contributions.
Conajzar also faced issues when it chose Daruma Sam SA as its renewed sports betting operator. Other contenders for the license felt that Daruma was chosen unfairly and that newcomers were not given an equal chance in the bid, despite having much to offer. The decision was confirmed in the publicly released resolution 48/2022.
Despite Conajzar and Daruma San’s assertions that the bidding process was completely above board, two of the companies that fought for the tender decided to appeal the decision in court. Ultimately, their battle might be more of a symbolic bid rather than changing the course of this specific decision, which seems unlikely to be altered.
