The passion of the Panamanian for chance games goes much further than the doors of the casinos, bingos, slot machine rooms and even the racetracks.

The so called “telematic” games, those that generate telephonic paid calls or text messages by TV viewers from a sports program, beauty show or any other kind, have tripled this year compared to year 2005.

According to the numbers of the Gambling Control Board, from January to October, the Panamanian have spent one million and 118 thousand dollars in this kind of interactive television game, with the objective of winning prizes from 500 up to 1500 dollars.

Only three companies have dealership to exploit the business: Telemedia, property of a businessmen group represented by Raúl Hernández, Telepromociones of Ricardo Sanjur and Telewin Entertainment that belongs to the Mingthoy Giro Group.