Puerto Rico Lawmaker Wants Gaming Regulator Boss Removed for Dereliction of Duty

A powerfulness battle may follow brewing inwards Puerto Rico’s gaming industry. Calls for the caput of the Puerto Rico Gaming Commission are getting louder as legislators add their voices.

The battle betwixt the Puerto Rico Gaming Commission (PRGC), unions and byplay owners continues to get to a greater extent voracious. The commissioning is attempting to exert its authority over the gaming space, but its methods and effectual earthing are existence questioned.

As the struggle continues, at least I lawmaker believes it’s time for change. Representative Jose Rivera Madera has asked Governor Pedro Pierluisi to transfer the executive theatre director of the PRGC, Orlando Diego Rivera Carrión.

Regulator Recall

Rivera Madera’s telephone call follows a similar sweat launched lowest calendar week past the Federal of Road Machine Operators (UNOMAR, for its Spanish people acronym). He alleges that the PRGC hirer has been accepting illegal payments and favors from businesses that downfall below the jurisdiction of the commission. In addition, Diego Rivera Carrión allegedly accepts payoffs from companies under valuation past the PRGC.

Rivera Carrión, asserts the representative, made deuce trips to Barcelona, Spain. These were at the disbursement of companies with which the governance is negotiating commercial deals. Rivera Madera explains that the companies are trying to introduce slot technology and other gaming equipment to Puerto Rico.

During the trips, Rivera Carrión and the business organization representatives discussed a keep down of issues, according to local media outlet Metro. Among them were changes to the law of nature that would do good particular proposition groups.

Rivera Madera previously filed a complaint against Rivera Carrión with the Office of Government Ethics (OEG, for its Spanish people acronym). In February, after learning virtually alleged “unacceptable relationships and conciliatory conversations” involving the PRGC boss, he tried to drive changes within the organization.

Rivera Carrión Already Under Investigation

Last week, the Union of Operators of Machinery on the Road (UNOMAR) requested his dismissal. This came after it learned of a federal investigating that focuses on Diego Rivera Carrión for irregularities, The investigation focuses on the PRGC’s displace to circumscribe the presence of electronic gaming machines that are prevalent in small, main(a) businesses and local chains.

The federal official Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is launch an investigating into Rivera Carrión. It has already asked the House of Representatives for a written matter of the data file on the alleged irregularities, according to El Nuevo Día.

In this document, it was confirmed that thither are 2 main allegations of conflicts of interest. One of them focuses on Diego Rivera Carrión’s participation inwards a conversation with individuals from the gaming ecosystem.

The other puts the brag under the microscope for the reimbursement of trips that the prescribed made outside the country. He allegedly took the trips to evaluate proposals from companies interested inwards entering Puerto Rico’s gaming marketing. In improver to the trips to Spain, Diego Rivera Carrión and a mathematical group of employees travelled twice to the US. One get off was to Chicago, IL, and the other to Las Vegas, NV.

A serial of functionary documents specify that the purpose of the trips was to “audit a unexampled permission diligence for our jurisdiction.” It adds that the costs would be reimbursed “by regulated companies, as established past the regulations of the Gambling Bureau.”

In any case, the Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC, for its Spanish people acronym), Manuel Cidre, isn’t ready to intervene. The DDEC oversees the PRGC’s activity, but won’t use up activeness on Diego Rivera Carrión until the OEG completes its have investigation.