Paraguay’s online gambling monopoly is kicking back less than $4m to the government on an annual basis, a situation the gambling regulator blames on unauthorized competition.

This week, José Ortiz, head of Paraguay’s National Gambling Commission (Conajazar), revealed that the Aposta.la online sports betting monopoly was contributing about G2.1b (US$325k) per month to the state treasury, which works out to around $3.9m on an annual basis.

Paraguay has a population of only around 7m residents, but Ortiz (pictured) justified the government’s paltry online betting returns from Aposta.la on the activities of at least three unauthorized online gambling operators. Ortiz singled out one of these companies as Crown City, which operates the Apuestasjockey.com domain (pictured behind Ortiz).

Crown City’s parent firm, Montego Trading, operated under a Conajazar permit until last year, when Aposta.la’s parent Daruma Sam S.A. was awarded a five-year betting monopoly despite suggestions that the government and Ortiz’s predecessor at Conajazar had rigged the tender to ensure Daruma Sam won the prize.