Spain’s Online Poker Industry Grows after Regulation

A number of online gaming sites thrived in Spain when the industry was unregulated. The Spanish government was concerned about keeping these companies in check and passed the Spanish Gambling Act on May 29. Government officials considered passing a law that would force all gaming sites to be shut down indefinitely.

The new law raised a number of concerns for the industry. Sites were still allowed to offer their services to Spanish citizens while waiting for the first licenses to be issued. They were concerned about a number of new regulations that would be passed. However, the last industry has thrived over the past four months.

Online gaming sites have generated a substantial amount of revenue from Spanish players. This has been encouraging to the Spanish government, which has imposed a 25% tax rate on all gross gaming revenue. The government has accumulated nearly 80 million euros from taxes since June.

Approximately 700,000 Spanish citizens are playing real money gambling. The market has been growing by approximately 100,000 players a month and is expected to continue to grow exponentially in the near future.

Industry experts and advocates are encouraged by the state of the online gaming market in Spain. They are still concerned about some of the regulations that are expected to be implemented in the future. They are particularly concerned about what restrictions authorities will place on advertising. However, a report from OnlinePoker.net found that the industry appears to have benefited considerably from online gaming regulation.

While the outlook for online gaming in Spain is unclear, gaming firms are expected to invest more resources expanding in the region.

This blog entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2012 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Casino News.