Chilean casinos undergo gradual recovery in January

The Superintendency of Gambling Casinos (SCJ) from Chile has published the financial results from January 2022, reporting a tax contribution of $18m.
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The Superintendency of Gambling Casinos (SCJ) from Chile has published the financial results from January 2022, a month in which casinos reported a tax contribution of $18m. As the local regulator explained, the results are “similar to the ones perceived in the same month before the pandemic.”

In total, Chilean casinos recorded a GGR of $59.8m in the first month of the current year. This represents a 2.4% drop when compared to January 2020, when the pandemic had not yet hit Chile. However, the figure also shows that the industry has experienced a 4.5x growth since January 2021.

The 21 licensed casinos in operation exceeded the contributions delivered in January 2021: “It must be taken into account that since January 21, the commune of Coquimbo features the Enjoy Coquimbo casino, which since that day has been incorporated into the regime of Law 19,995, and now contributes with taxes and annual payments to the municipality,” the SCJ clarified.

In regards to visits, 514,667 people entered the 26 casinos in the first month of the year, representing a total of 74.6% of the visits registered in January 2020. According to the SCJ, this “shows a stabilization in visits considering that the average for the last quarter of 2021 was 491,128 people per month.”

In 2021, the casinos’ gross revenues totaled $355m, while December figures reached $55.5m. The revenues from the last month of 2021 also represented a 10% increase when compared to the same month in 2019.

Revenues from 2021 are approximately 65% of what the industry experienced in 2019. However, the trend from the last quarter of the year makes it clear that Chilean casinos are no longer recovering, as they are competing and surpassing pre-pandemic levels.