Breaking news: First wave of operators receive Spanish licences
bwin.party, 888, bet365, Sportingbet, Codere, Cirsa, mybet, GTECH G2 first to be notified " Sportingbet claim award negates "part of" Codere injunction.
The first wave of operators have been awarded licences to operate in the regulated Spanish egaming market due to open next Tuesday with only three companies said to have had their applications rejected, eGaming Review understands.
Sportingbet claims the deal “Negates part of the injunction” against its Miapuesta brand, brought by Codere in March, and allows Sportingbet to begin operating “when the market opens”.
eGR also understands bet365 and GTECH G2 have also been awarded respective operator and supplier licences. GTECH G2 is set to dominate the supplier side in Spain with a total of 14 client contracts predominantly with local land-based casinos looking to launch online poker, casino and bingo offerings.
Both bet365 and Sportingbet are understood to have settled back-tax debts with the Spanish Tax Office in advance of the dot.es market opening in earnest next Tuesday, with Sportingbet confirming a 17.2m outlay earlier this month.
A PokerStars spokesperson confirmed to eGR that it has been awarded a licence, and that the operator would be issuing a media alert on the subject shortly. 888 and bwin.party have also been awarded licences, with the latter introducing a new Spanish-facing brand, binguez.es, which will offer bingo, roulette and blackjack.
Brian Mattingley, CEO of 888, said: “Spain is an important market for 888, accounting for 5% of our revenue in 2011. We believe that the future of the online gaming industry is in regulated, legitimate and safe online gaming environments, and we believe we have the right offering to gain significant market share.”
Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger, co-CEOs of bwin.party, said in a joint statement: “Our aim is to secure market-leading positions in all five products through leveraging the inherent strength of our two prime brands, PartyPoker and bwin, which has attained high consumer awareness through its sponsorship of Real Madrid, and also through a new, localised brand called Binguez.
“Our launch in Spain will also be a key merger integration milestone for bwin.party as all of the three sites’ products will be hosted on a new, technologically advanced and fully integrated gaming platform that will enhance the consumer’s gaming experience,” they added.
Despite announcing last month that it would pay approximately 33m in back-taxes for the last two years the bwin.party statement said only 4% of the group’s revenues in 2011 were generated in Spain.
It had been thought that Sportingbet’s legal wrangle with Codere could delay its entry into the market by as much as two weeks, but the operator has explained that “[Miapuesta is permitted to] commence trading when this regulated market opens…[and]… Sportingbet is now in the process of filing an application with the Commercial Court no.10 in Madrid to have the remaining parts of the injunction cancelled.”
While the Spanish General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) will issue licences privately today, a full list of those whose applications have been successful will not be made public until 15 June.
eGaming Review expects a number of other operators to confirm the success of their applications over the course of today, with mybet – the Schleswig-Holstein licensee which changed its name from Jaxx earlier this year – another approved by the DGOJ.
A number of Spanish land-based operators have also been successful including Codere, Cirsa and Egasa, a source close to the matter told eGaming Review this morning.