Spain grants first online gambling license

The autonomous region of Madrid has issued its first eGaming license to Casino Gran Madrid, making it the first operator to be granted an online gambling license in Spain.

This move comes ahead of Spain publishing its recently approved nationwide online gambling bill, due to be published and passed into law this week. It also levels Spain with countries such as France and Italy that already have online gambling licensing system in place.

Casino Gran Madrid has an agreement in place with gaming software giant Playtech signed back in 2009 that set out the foundation for the provision of Playtech casino and poker software and inclusion of Casino Gran Madrid on Playtech gaming network.

The new license allows Casino Gran Madrid to offer blackjack, roulette, slots and poker games and it is predicted that the casino will pay 10% gross gaming revenue tax for its online operation.

It is interesting to notice the progressive attitudes by many European legislators trying to regulate and control the eGaming market in comparison with the strict, contradicting and unworkable attitudes that US legislators have with regards to the eGaming market.

It will be interesting to see an end to the political struggles in the US and have it on course towards a clear intrastate or interstate eGaming regulation regime and putting an end to the domain seizures and federal indictments that have been plaguing the US market since April and continuing full steam ahead this month.