Puerto Rico's Gaming Commission trains police officers

The Puerto Rico Gaming Commission has launched a new training initiative for police officers to support stronger enforcement against illegal route gambling machines across the island.

The program is designed to standardize procedures, improve technical understanding of how machines operate and ensure that agents can identify which devices are properly authorized under existing regulations.

According to Juan Carlos Santaella Marchán, Executive Director of the Gaming Commission, the effort is aligned with the Regulation on Confiscations of Route Gambling Machines, a framework jointly created by the Commission and the Puerto Rico Police, and which was approved recently.

Marchán said the workshops aim to deliver "more efficient and transparent oversight," reinforcing public policy objectives and safeguarding revenues allocated to the police retirement trust fund.

"With these workshops we train the officers who will participate in the interventions to the shops that operate outside the law, thus reinforcing the public policy of ensuring the collection of the trust for the retirement of the Puerto Rico Police," he said.

The training, led by engineer and Commission consultant Esaúl Rodríguez, is taking place at the Police Academy in Gurabo.

Officers are being instructed on machine mechanics, legal classifications and approved intervention protocols to ensure that inspections and seizures are conducted consistently in line with regulatory requirements.

The initiative comes at a time when oversight of route gambling machines has generated close to $10m in fiscal revenues, according to Commission data.

Marchán reaffirmed the agency's commitment to strict enforcement, noting that the Commission will do everything in their power to comply with the law.

He emphasized that protecting retirement funds for officers and ensuring municipalities receive their legally-designated share remain central priorities as the oversight program expands.

"We remain firm in guaranteeing the precautions for the withdrawal of our police officers, as well as the money corresponding to the municipalities," he said.