The General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling in Spain has at long last released the entire list of operators who were eventually granted licenses to operate gambling under Spain’s new gambling laws.
The Lay 13/2011 de Regulacion del Juego did not put any limit on the number of general licenses that it would be granting and as it is a well known fact that this is a “cash grab” by the government to try and raise money from wherever it could, there were very few rejections.
The gambling authorities awarded 91 general licenses with 186 singular licenses granted to 53 companies on June 1, 2012.
The new gambling laws that were established in Spain at the beginning of this month basically regulates national gambling which includes gaming operations through electronic, technological and interactive means, mobile phones, television as well as other interactive communication systems.
Operators who wished to offer their services to Spanish gamblers were required to apply for and obtain the relevant license granted by Spain’s National Gambling Commission.
General licenses were awarded by the Spanish government as a prerequisite for operators entering the market and were awarded for a period of ten years.
Single licenses are awarded for between one to five years and are required for each type of gambling game offered. Once a general license is withdrawn an operator automatically loses the singular license as well.
Included in the list of gaming operators that were awarded licenses are 888 which was granted a general license for sports betting and another for “other games”. 888 was also awarded single licenses for bingo, blackjack, poker, roulette, punto y banca and fixed odds betting.
Other leading brands who were awarded licenses include –
- Betfair
- Ladbrokes International
- Rank
- Prima Net
- Paddy Power
- Interwetten
- Giga Game Online
- Gamesys
- Codere and
- Electraworks
Most forms of online gambling will face a gross profit tax of between 10 and 25%.
