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C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 001619 
 
NOFORN 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2019 
TAGS: KCOR KCRM KJUS KTFM XM PE
SUBJECT: US TREASURY CONCERNED ABOUT PERUVIAN GAMING SECTOR 
 
Classified By: Classified by Acting NAS Director R...


id: 232381
date: 10/30/2009 21:52
refid: 09LIMA1619
origin: Embassy Lima
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 
header:
VZCZCXYZ0009
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #1619/01 3032152
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 302152Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1436
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 0089
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 0764
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO PRIORITY 0115
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO PRIORITY 0130


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C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 001619 
 
NOFORN 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2019 
TAGS: KCOR KCRM KJUS KTFM XM PE
SUBJECT: US TREASURY CONCERNED ABOUT PERUVIAN GAMING SECTOR 
 
Classified By: Classified by Acting NAS Director Robert Ward for 
reasons 1.(b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  A team from the Office of Technical 
Assistance (OTA) from the Department of Treasury was invited 
by the Peruvian Gaming Commission to Lima in order to conduct 
a preliminary assessment of the Peruvian gaming sector. 
During their very short trip, the team met with the Gaming 
Commission and other entities at the Ministry of Tourism 
(MINCETUR) as well as with the Financial Intelligence Unit 
(FIU), and visited the XXXXXXXXXXXX.  The team found 
lax to non-existent regulatory controls, a toothless Gaming 
Commission staffed by unqualified personnel, and a cursory 
registration process.  The gaming sector is thus wide open to 
money launderers, drug traffickers, and counterfeiters both 
Peruvian and foreign.  The sector badly needs reform. End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) At the request of the Peruvian Gaming Commission, the 
U.S. Department of the Treasury sent the following team to 
Lima: XXXXXXXXXXXX. This 
team met with a cross section of Peruvian entities involved 
in regulating the gaming sector as well as in enforcement, 
tax collection and private business owners.  Though the team 
was only on the ground for four days, they feel they were 
able to get a sense of the challenges and vulnerabilities 
facing the sector as a whole and are preparing a report to be 
sent to the Vice Minister of Tourism at the end of November. 
 
 
Peru = Unregulated 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to OTA, if one were to compare the 
regulatory body or the level of control of the gaming sector 
in Peru to other countries in the region with Chile being the 
best and Guatemala the worst, Peru ranks closer to Guatemala. 
 The U.S. Treasury considers the gaming sector in Peru to be 
"unregulated" and therefore U.S. companies, individuals, or 
gaming houses that have an operating license in the U.S. are 
prohibited by law from doing business, serving as management 
contractors or opening U.S. franchises in Peru.  If they did, 
they would lose their operating license and therefore be 
forced to shut down all operations in the U.S.  The OTA 
representatives stated that, "No U.S. licensed entity has any 
business being here in Peru" and if they are here then it is 
a strong indication that they are up to no good given the 
financial risk of losing the U.S. license. 
 
The Peruvian Gaming Commission 
 
¶4. (SBU)  The Peruvian Gaming Commission (PGC) is made up of 
75 employees, most of whom are lawyers, and most of whom, 
according to OTA, do not even understand how a casino works. 
As far as the Peruvian Gaming Commission (PGC) is aware there 
are over 750 gambling locations, meaning casinos and slot 
machine houses.  Most are located in Lima.  There are nine 
casinos in the entire country, all in Lima, and the rest are 
slot machine houses.  (There are 60,000 slot machines in the 
country that they are aware of)  There are also two 
internet-based gambling entities.  According to the PGC's 
records, there are over 60,000 employees in the gaming 
sector. NOTE on Internet gambling: because there is no 
specific regulation prohibiting it, internet gambling is 
considered legal.  However, there is no designated overseer 
so, according to the PGC, no one has authority to control or 
regulate this part of the sector.  The PGC only has authority 
over casinos and slot machines; they do not regulate the 
lottery, bingo and other such games nor do they have the 
authority to regulate internet gambling. 
 
 
Slot Machines 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Worldwide approximately six reputable companies 
make and sell decent machines.  Three of these brands exist 
in Peru, though international sellers of machines are not 
allowed to sell directly to Peru due to its  unregulated 
sector, status.  Therefore, most machines arrive in Peru via 
third party sellers.  Unfortunately, the PGC does not have a 
testing lab nor the testing capabilities to check machines so 
as to prevent "rigging."  The machines observed by the team 
were of high quality and in some cases the best quality. 
However, outside the casinos, there is a larger problem of 
 illegal, machines.  These are usually Chinese or Japanese 
and have no mechanism for control or the ability to calibrate 
for fairness.  The PGC has destroyed 4,000 of these machines 
and continues to remove illegal machines from the market. 
The Paper Tiger 
 
¶6. (SBU) In 2006, the Government of Peru granted the PGC the 
authority to issue licenses and regulate the gaming industry. 
 However, under the same legislation, they were stripped of 
their ability to collect the taxes generated by the industry 
that responsibility was given to IRS/Customs (SUNAT). 
Because the actual amount of tax revenue produced is a 
fraction of a point in SUNAT's overall assessment, they do 
not collect the tax and have shown no interest in beginning 
to collect tax as a form of regulation and control.  OTA's 
assessment is that the PGC has no real teeth; it is a true 
"paper tiger." Though it can levy some fines, it has no 
mechanism or ability to collect/enforce laws.  NOTE: the PGC 
is also the lead agency on Anti-money laundering for this 
sector. 
 
 
The Issue with Licensing 
 
¶7. (SBU) Only 453 gaming locations have actually been 
licensed under the PGC's system.  However, the PGC explained 
to the team that it wasn't a true licensing 
system, more of a simple registration.  They don't do 
background checks, they don't require proof of origin for the 
money, just name, date, DOB, address, etc.  The PGC also 
explained that they don't have the ability to do background 
checks beyond the borders of Peru.  When asked directly by 
the team, "so then Osama Bin Ladin could start a casino here" 
they replied yes. 
 
 
Holes in the System 
 
¶8. (SBU) There is no requirement for reporting large currency 
transactions and no credit is allowed.  The concern with the 
lack of legal credit in the gaming industry is that it forces 
the credit underground and creates a thriving loan shark 
market.  There also seems to be confusion, or rather a free 
interpretation as to what constitutes a "suspicious activity" 
which a gaming location would be required to report. 
According to the Casino owners, it is not unusual for them to 
have individuals gambling 30,000 USD to 40,000 USD a day, and 
the owners argue because there are so few people in Peru with 
that kind of money, they know them all.  And because they 
know them, it isn't suspicious since they do it all the time. 
 The OTA team also reported that it is not uncommon for 
owners of Chinese restaurants to gamble up to 5000 USD per 
day.  Finally, there is no prohibition on cash for cash 
exchange, cash for checks, and cash for wire transfer, all of 
which are allowed and unregulated in Peru but prohibited in 
countries that are considered "regulated." This lack of 
strong controls makes the system very vulnerable to 
counterfeit currency.  NOTE: On October 28, NAS officials met 
with a US Secret Service official who stated that more US 
currency is counterfeited in Peru than anywhere else in the 
hemisphere.  Additionally, foreign currency exchange appears 
to be unregulated.  In the U.S., casinos provide foreign 
currency exchange services; however, the transactions are 
heavily monitored and controlled. 
 
 
Fascination with the fancy toys 
 
¶9. (SBU) OTA's overall impression of the PGC was that they 
had this misguided fascination with fancy technology.  The 
Peruvian legislature is considering mandating that all slot 
machines must be linked to a computer center in Lima.  If 
passed, this law would require each location to spend about 
100,000 USD to install, forcing the smaller gambling 
operations out of business.  Moreover, it has been learned in 
other countries that this solution doesn't result in greater 
enforcement. 
 
 
The Baffling Peruvian Tax System 
 
¶10. (SBU) According to OTA, the Peruvian tax system seems 
designed to fail and there are millions of dollars in tax 
revenue uncollected by the government.  According to the law, 
there is a 12 percent tax on gross income - minus 2 percent 
for a "slot Maintenance fee" that the institution keeps. 
SUNAT showed the team their records indicating who has not 
paid their taxes but they have made no move to go and 
collect.  The OTA team was baffled by the lack of interest in 
collecting the taxes.  Furthermore, only SUNAT is allowed to 
look at the books in any gaming site, a fact that the casinos 
and slot houses use to prevent the PGC or the FIU from 
looking at their books.   This remains a black hole in terms 
of regulation and control.  Typically, governments will grant 
their Gaming Commissions the authority to collect taxes. 
When NASOff directly asked if the responsibility could be 
shifted away from SUNAT to the PGC, the XXXXXXXXXXXX not only explained that this would be difficult because it would require a change of law, but he didn,t think it was a good idea given that the PGC really doesn't have the capacity to take on that type of 
responsibility.  Though he admitted SUNAT's lack of interest 
in collecting the taxes from the casinos and gaming halls was 
a serious issue and an obstacle to better control of the 
sector. 
 
 
Can't Get an Operating License Where you Are?  Come to Peru! 
 
¶11. (SBU) There are several casino operators in Peru who have 
been denied licenses in other countries.  For example, Chile 
denied XXXXXXXXXXXX, which operates the XXXXXXXXXXXX in Lima,  an operating license on the grounds that the company could not prove origin of funds, so they simply came to Peru and have been able to operate legitimately and freely.  Additionally, a casino operates in 
Peru with their source of funds listed from a bank account in 
the British Virgin Islands and has no obligation to prove 
origin of funds beyond that particular bank account. 
 
 
Comment 
 
¶12. (C) OTA is most concerned about the inability of the PGC, 
or any sector for that matter, to identify the background on 
a Casino; the origin of the money; and true ownership.  The 
Peruvian gaming sector is extremely vulnerable and attractive 
to/for money laundering.  The team used Russia as an example. 
 Russia has essentially dismantled their gaming industry in 
an effort to wipe the slate clean and start over again with 
stronger control.  As such, those forced out of operation in 
Russia will be looking elsewhere to operate their businesses 
and, according to the OTA team, Peru will be high on the list 
of preferences.  OTA strongly believes that before any 
technical assistance on an operational and regulatory level 
may be conducted, the Peruvian legislature must change the 
gaming laws.  Training at this point will be fruitless given 
the relaxed nature of enforcement laws in Peru.  OTA has 
expertise in working with governments on drafting legislation 
and is currently working with Costa Rica and Antigua on this 
task.  On a high note, NASOff and ECONOff met with the Vice 
Minister of Tourism - Pablo Lopez De Romana Caceres - on 
October 20 as a follow up to the OTA visit.  When the subject 
of issues with the gaming laws was raised the Vice Minister 
said that he felt now was an opportune time to look at the 
laws and suggest changes.  He also expressed his support for 
tight control and stronger regulation. 
 
¶13. (C) NAS and DEA will work with the OTA team to assist the 
PGC's efforts in tightening control.  As a result of this 
meeting, DEA will be translating into Spanish a draft law on 
Gaming that is used across the region.  NAS will work with 
OTA on future visits not just for the gaming sector but to 
look closely at all aspects of the anti-money laundering 
system in Peru. 
 
 
MCKINLEY 

=======================CABLE ENDS============================