Paraguay is seeking an operator to partner with the country to offer sports betting. The government’s gaming regulator, Corajzan, put out the call for applicants to be the country’s exclusive sports betting provider.

Corajzan will narrow down the field of applicants to finalists, which the group will announce on Oct. 31. Interested applicants need to be willing to pay a 60 million guarani (~$8,700) application license fee to the national treasury. The company would also need to commit to building an office and putting down some sort of roots in the capital city of Asunción.

The announcement comes after Corajzan’s recent efforts to limit and crack down on offshore gambling operators in the country. There has also been a recent push to limit the expansion of slot machines. Paraguay legalized gambling in 1996 and expanded the scope of the law, Law-1016, in 2015.

Prior to this recent call for tender, Corajzan had a similar arrangement before with Daruma Sam, which operated the Aposta.la brand in Paraguay. The company and Corajzan agreed to terms in 2018, but the company was never able to generate much in the way of results. Moreover, the company was accused of money laundering last year.

Daruma Sam owner Marco Trovato previously ended up in hot water with FIFA when he served as the president of the country’s national football team. He was sanctioned and effectively banned from the sport in 2020.

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