Changes to the Spanish Online Gambling Market

The Spanish gambling market is about to face some changes and not everyone is happy about it. Today, at the Gaming in Spain 2012 conference, the General Director of the Development of Gaming will join the new Gaming Regulation Deputy General to discuss legislation and regulation for online gambling.

A hot topic at the conference will be the legality of marketing and advertising campaigns based on gambling. The Spanish non-profit agency Autocontrol has agreed to handle regulation of these campaigns and will also be attending the conference.

Another issue that needs to be discussed is how to handle issuing licenses for new operators who want to enter the now regulated market. Operators who are already in the Spanish market have been subjected to investigations by the National Bureau of Fraud Investigation to determine what taxes, such as VAT and Non Resident Tax, have gone unpaid during the last few years.

With the possibility of owing extra funds and having to abide by new legal regulations, some operators including Unibet are pulling out of the Spanish market. Unibet customers will still be able to withdraw any money left in their accounts but will no longer be able to access the rest of the website after May 14th, 2012. However, Unibet’s loyal customers will have access to the Swedish operator Paf’s gambling site since the two have agreed on a partnership and Paf has already submitted its paperwork to Spanish authorities.

Spain will follow in the path of Italy by having the independent monitoring company eCORGA test, review and scrutinize gambling firms and online casinos. eCORGA will test software, determine its fairness and certify the security of the software before licenses will be issued. The company will also create standards for the Spanish gambling market since there is still not harmonious regulation within the European Union.