New Spanish online gaming association formed
Jdigital to replace AEDAPI as official organisation of Spanish online gambling industry
The formation of an official Spanish gambling operator association, La Asociación Española de Juego Digital (Jdigital), has been announced.
Jdigital will serve as the egaming subsidiary of the Spanish digital commerce body La Asociación Española de la EconomÃa Digital (adigital), and is to replace AEDAPI as the official Spanish operator association. While no members of the organisation have been announced, Jdigital announced in a press conference this morning that there had been strong interest from operators, media and payments providers in becoming part of the association.
Adigital director Jose Luis Zimmerman commented that the formation of Jdigital reflected the importance of egaming to the Spanish ecommerce sector: “The online gaming industry has experienced significant growth in recent years and its importance in the digital economy is growing. For this reason, we believe that this new partnership further reinforces the position of adigital and our members in both Spain and in Europe.”
The decision was taken to form a new body as a subsidiary of adigital rather than a standalone organisation to ensure that the online gambling industry was seen as having equal importance to other ecommerce sectors. Former AEDAPI president Sacha Michaud (pictured), also general manager of Betfair Iberia, was announced as president of Jdigital.
Michaud echoed Zimmerman’s comments, describing the online industry as “a segment of great importance” in Spain.
Jdigital also revealed projected gross gaming revenues (GGR) for Spain based on a 20% year-on-year increase in the market. After GGR for 2011 rose to over 370m, Jdigital predicted that revenues would rise to 500m this year, reaching 800m by 2014.