available in some of the 17 autonomous communities, and prospective operators may choose to obtain national, local or even both licences. Although local licences would have tax benefits for some products, the limited size of the market may prove problematic, especially for products that require large liquidity, such as bingo, pool betting and poker.
Both the Loterias y Apuestas del Estado (LAE) and the Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos Espanoles (ONCE) have the exclusive right to offer different types of national lottery products, including the ‘popular coupon’.
Online gambling is already regulated at the local level in the Madrid region, the largest gaming market, which has recently issued the country’s first online licence to the Grand Madrid Group, allowing it to operate only within the region. Other autonomous communities that have a regulatory framework in place are the Basque region and Aragon, although no licences have been issued. There are proposals in Catalonia for a similar framework.
Brief details of Law 13/2011 include the following:
• The creation of a new national regulator in the form of the National Gaming Commission (NGC). The aim of the NGC is to licence trans-community gaming through
an administrative procedure, supervise operators and to establish technical standards / testing requirements. The body will have strong administrative powers to prosecute unlicensed operators and even consumers.
• Types of games to be offered: Until 1 January 2012, ‘First Round’ licensees are likely to be able to offer a wide category of ‘authorised games’ including: roulette and blackjack, poker (cash and tournament), bingo, horserace betting and sports betting (both fixed odds and mutual), ‘contests’, raffles and, what are termed, ‘soft games’, which could include popular Spanish traditional card games or games based on television shows. No plans to initially allow exchange betting (even though it is mentioned in the law), online slot machines and scratch cards due to lawmakers taking the view that these games may be dangerous to consumers as they would be more likely to succumb to addiction.
afteR januaRy 2012 theRe aRe plans to allow a
secound Round of licences.
• Poker: Spanish liquidity pool will be segregated from the international liquidity pool although international players may be able to sign up through “dot es” domains but would still have to pay Spanish taxes. Since the lack of liquidity may pose problems for operators who rely on large number of players there may be changes to this restriction once the regime is up and running. No news as of yet on any poker operators that are interested in applying for a licence although the usual suspects of PokerStars, Party, Ongame and iPoker are likely to apply directly for a licence and/or engage in ‘white label’ partnerships with local operators. Interestingly, even software providers may still be required to be locally licensed. FullTiltPoker may be prevented from initially applying for a licence following their recent US indictments and suspended licences from Alderney and France.
• Deposit limits (poker*, roulette, blackjack, fixed odds betting and bingo): As per recently published draft decrees, deposits would be limited to only €600 a day / €1500 a week / €2000 a month.
• Poker* restrictions: A maximum of only 30 ‘big blinds’ would be permitted on poker cash games. In other words, in a typical No Limit Hold ‘Em cash game with the blinds at €1 and €2, the maximum ‘buy in’ would be only €60. It is important to note that most
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