Article: Italy and Spain are regulating remote gambling

[Vallerius]

I'm still trying to determine what the incentive is for a company to get a remote gaming license (as opposed to betting) in either of these countries, since it seems that it might be possible to operate from a jurisdiction such as Gibraltar and Malta where tax will no doubt be lower. My guess is that unlicensed companies will not be able to advertise in the jurisdictions, but that can be difficult to enforce on the Internet.
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Italy, Spain usher in new gambling regs


Gaming regulators in Italy and Spain have passed legislation to liberalize land-based and Internet betting, prompting a deluge of license applications from foreign operators.

In Italy, the government is auctioning off 17,000 licenses for sports and horse racing betting at shops and other outlets. Companies have been invited to bid for the number of outlets for which they want licenses. Sports wagering will also be permitted online.

Remote casino gaming and brick-and-mortar casinos are also being regulated by Italy. More than 30 companies-- many of them bookmakers, including Betfair, William Hill and Unibet-— have already received licenses to offer remote gaming. Remote wagering on skill games and person-to-person betting exchanges is also being regulated.

The Spanish federal government has enacted legislation allowing sports betting in shops, retail outlets and online, and regional governments were given the ability to impose conditions as they see fit. Madrid's regional government published regulations outlining its licensing conditions last month. Unlike Italy, Madrid has established a fixed license fee and a limited number of licenses. But license holders can open as many shops and outlets as they please.

Britain's largest betting operators appear well-placed to take advantage of the opening markets. Gala Coral already operates an Italian-language Internet site and a betting shop in Genoa. Ladbrokes entered into a joint venture agreement with Italian firm Pianeta Scommesse in August and bought three betting shops in Turin last month. And William Hill is finalizing a joint venture with Spanish firm Codere after the European Commission announced last week that it would not oppose such a partnership.

"Essentially, this is a case of creating a new market or converting an illegal market into a legal market," said Nilay Patel, corporate finance manager for William Hill. "We don't have the facts, figures and information on which to make sensible estimates of the potential size of the opportunity.

"Until we actually have a couple years of operating experience in these markets, we really don't know how they're going to develop," he continued.

Italy had, until recently, resisted the notion of allowing foreign companies to offer Internet betting and gaming products to its citizens. The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance had gone so far as to order the country's Internet Service Providers to block access to the websites of foreign betting operators in February. But when foreign betting operators complained Italy's policies violated European Union free trade laws, the country became one of nine Member States against whom the European Commission launched infringement proceedings.

Taking over in April, new prime minister Romano Prodi's government is ushering in far-reaching economic measures, including an early mini-budget intended to cut the country's deficit by more than 11.2 billion Euros. The gambling and betting industries are among the most substantially affected.

[aksana]

Thank you, Vallerius for the article, I'm worried about this regulation but I'll be waiting for the results.

[big fish]

yes - thanks for the excellent article. i think this is good news. if the good old usa woulld only move in this direction. we would see signifiacnt growth in the industry, the gov't can tax the revenues and sell expensive licenses. instead they are driving in the wrong direction. go figure...

[Vallerius]

Meanwhile, Germany also appears to be taking the prohibitive approach:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...c=66&type=qcna

I'll try to find out more

[Ziggy]

Maybe when the "Sands" goes online, I can be their first Affiliate to go after the Italian and Spanish markets!

[helpyou]

Dear people, I'll stay very quiet.

I wait when it'll be official and after not all the casinos can operate in Spain and in Italy.

And so we must wait.