Spain's online slots bid comes under fire
Draft regulation would cause "enormous damage" to the land-based industry, says the Spanish Gaming Business Council
Spain’s proposed online slots regulation could cause “enormous damage” to land-based betting establishments, the Spanish Gaming Business Council has warned.
Alejandro Landaluce, director general of Spanish Gaming Business Council (CEJUEGO), an association comprising eight leading land-based operators, this week wrote to the regulator (DGOJ) in order to criticise the draft ministerial order released last week.
The draft outlined plans to place a requirement on operators to inform customers of the time and money spent at the end of each session of play as part of a range of player protection measures.
The DGOJ is set to present the draft to the General Council for Gaming Policies (GCGP) at a meeting tomorrow (19 February) before being put up for public consultation for a period lasting roughly 15 days.
However, according to Landaluce, the implementation of slots under the current draft would “adversely affect the gaming industry as a whole” and create “insurmountable unfair competition for AWPs”.
He argues the proposed regulation is “extremely lax”, fails to establish limitations to bets and total money spend, and gives online operators liberty to promote and advertise their products, which is prohibited for the land-based industry.
“[If passed, the bill would] cannibalize inexorably, causing enormous damage to the national machinery manufacturing industry and regulated gambling establishments, especially bars and cafes which have been suffering for several years from an unstoppable crisis with the closure of many businesses,” he said.
A Spanish gaming consultant countered Landaluce’s claim that no limitations have been placed on online stakes.
“Stakes and money spend limitation is well established by the existing law and is applicable to all the online products at 600 per day or 3000 per month limits, and if nothing changes that applies to the slots online,” he said.
“United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and to a lesser extent France all have gaming machines in the land-based enviroment and none of them suffered any damage when online slots were introduced.
“In addition,no land-based machine has any control regarding responsable gaming as the online enviroment has, which is relevant,” he added.
The implementation of online slots, which is now expected in the autumn, will also see a reopening of the Spanish market with operators invited to submit applications for licences with a duration period of five years.
It is hoped that the addition of online slots will provide a boost to Spain’s flagging online gaming market which saw gross gaming revenue (GGR) contract by 20% to 51.6m over the course of the first three quarters of 2013.