Legislation
Spain – Galicia opens up public consultation over new gaming laws
By Phil - 22 March 2018
The Regional Government of Galicia has opened a public consultation via its website in order to gather suggestions for the way a new gaming act is developed.
The new act will update the Spanish autonomous community’s gaming laws, which date back to 1985. The government will be accepting suggestions until May 19.
According to the Galician government, changes to legislation seek to renew the “traditional view” of this activity, which in recent years has been updated with “new products, new technologies” and is “more widespread” throughout society.
As a result, the government sees it as “necessary” to elaborate a new legal framework that adapts gaming to the current needs of the sector. One of the primary concerns of any new legislation will be player protection measures especially when it comes to minors. In addition, it will ensure that the new law will provide “uniformity” to the way gaming is regulated in the future as well as increase awareness when it comes to responsible gaming.
In February, The People’s Party (PP) put forward a proposal, which would adapt local gaming laws in order to coincide with the rise of the gaming in the region and make it more current. The Galician Nationalist Bloc party supported the initiative.
The text recognises the electoral pledge put forward as part of the PP’s electoral program in 2016 to develop a “new gaming law in Galicia, by adapting Galician gaming regulations to the current reality of the gaming sector in Spain, in a way that responds to current needs” and that it be “formulated with the maximum degree of consensus with the sector to enable an adequate development of this activity, respecting the rights that could be affected by it, in particular that of the most vulnerable groups (namely minors).”
Gaming is on the rise in Galicia. There are currently two casinos, 15 gaming tables and 25 slot machines in casinos. Revenue for table gaming stands at €2.4m while for casino slots it stands at €1.4m while the number of visitors to the casinos in the region stands at 65,466. In April 2017 it was revealed that the boom in sports betting and the solution of legal problems revolving around the collection of taxes had allowed the six sports betting operators in Galicia to raise €7.2m in gaming tax revenue. According to government figures, sports betting tax revenue collected by the government stood at €1.8m in 2015 for the years 2013 and 2014, while revenue collected by the government of Galicia stood at €5.4m, which included payments for 2015 and almost all of 2016. Sports betting revenue is also forecast to increase after local leaders decided to expand the maximum number of terminals that can be installed in catering establishments from 2,000 to 3,600.
In addition, in October 2016 Codere announced that it had signed an agreement with Comar Group (Grupo Comar), which is the leading operator of private gaming in Galicia. The agreement will allow both companies to operate sports betting jointly. The agreement means that Codere will strengthen its presence in Galicia, as a result of the “enormous expansion Comar has made in Galicia during its more than three decades of history in the private gaming sector,” according to a Codere statement at the time.
