Plans to legalize foreign lotteries besides Wega di Number Kòrsou

December 20, 2011 4:34 PM

There are plans to legalize other lotteries besides the official and legal daily lottery Wega di Number Kòrsou.

It regards lotteries such as Smartplay from St. Maarten, the Loteria Nacional from the Dominican Republic and various Venezuelan lotteries, as part of a complete reorganization of the lottery system of Curaçao, says chairman of the institute Wega di Number Kòrsou (FWNK), Marius Römer, who is now also acting as director of the institute.Since 1979, the institute is legally recognized as the only organizer and administrator of the daily lottery on Curaçao. Therefore, the institute organizes the daily drawing, as the only legally recognized drawing. The drawing is done in the presence of officials from the institute, the government and the island’s security service (SKS) and the Department of weights and measures regularly inspect the machines used with the drawing in the presence of a notary.
 
However, besides the official lottery of Curaçao, other illegal tickets are sold at almost all lottery offices on the islands – for years – including the lotteries Smartplay and Daily Number, both drawn on the island St. Maarten and both owned and organized by lottery boss Robbie dos Santos. It’s a fact that both lotteries are actually illegal. Firstly, contrary to Curaçao, St. Maarten does not have a lottery regulation. Secondly, the drawing of these two lotteries is done without any form of legal or notary supervision. The drawings apparently are done every day at the personal office of Dos Santos. However, illegal or not, Smartplay is one of the most sold lotteries on Curaçao. The government or FWNK-officials have no monitoring possibilities because the ticket sales on the island are done manually. Ismenia Polonia, official with the institute, says actions were taken against offices of persons selling illegal lottery tickets besides those of the institute in the past. Selling illegal lottery tickets is considered a violation that could lead to closing down an office (temporarily). However, Polonia states “We are continuously instructed to reopen the offices.” Polonia could not confirm whether there’s a question of an official ‘tolerance’ of the lotteries from St. Maarten.

The lottery tickets from Smartplay are not the only ones sold on the island illegally. There’s also the weekly Loteria Nacional from the Dominican Republic (this is popularly called Sandumingu) that is sold illegally every Sunday, especially by the ‘mobile’ ticket salespeople in the districts. Besides being illegal, these lotteries do not fall under the established guarantee fund of 1979 for payment if the organizer of a lottery lacks sufficient means to pay the winning numbers or in case of disputes. To-date, mobile ticket salespeople or a lottery office is fined or closed down when caught selling illegal lottery tickets. Within the framework of the complete reorganization, it is the intention to adjust the lottery regulation to the extent that the current violation will then be considered a crime with all its consequences, says Marius Römer.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

13 December 2011