Draft regulation for Online Slots and Exchange Betting games published in the press
By Alla Serebrianskaia, Associate, Asensi Abogados
Since that the DGOJ has not established at any time any official timeline regarding the regulatory process for approving Online Slots and Exchange betting games, the gaming industry has been anxiously awaiting during the last weeks the first draft regulations to be published by the DGOJ. It was yesterday, when finally the confidential first draft regulation for online slots and exchange betting games were improperly leaked and published in several Spanish publications. Both draft regulations, after having been drafted solely by the DGOJ, have been circulated among the regional gaming authorities in order to receive their feedback.
In this regard, we should take into account that the drafts circulated yesterday are not subject to public comments and only to the comments of the regional authorities. Therefore, the drafts that will be published by the DGOJ for the public consultation at a later stage may include changes.
In any case and according to this first version of the documents, we should emphasize that both are quite open-handed texts and most of the fundamental aspects of the regulation are kept to the discretion of the operator. Regarding online slots, the operator can decide about aspects such as, prizes that can be obtained, the minimum payout percentage or the minimum and maximum amounts to bet without no other limitations than those relating to the limits per gaming session which in practical terms and according to the definition provided by the draft, should not cause excessive trouble to the operator nor to the player.
Regarding exchange betting games the draft regulation contains a transitional provision delaying the possibility of organizing exchange horse racing bets insofar the applicable tax rate is legally defined for this type of game. In addition, the draft includes several final dispositions, being the most relevant the one that amends and clarifies the regime established for the “live” Fixed Odds sports bets.
One of the main provisions that we consider essential to highlight is the one related to the entry into force of the Ministerial Orders approving these two new games. Both drafts state that will enter into force the same day that a new call for a public tender to apply for General Licences is published. According to that, the intention of the DGOJ is to avoid the competitive advantage that the licensed operators may have over those other unlicensed. Therefore, those operators that currently hold a General Licence will be entitled to apply for the relating single licence while those operators without any kind of online licence in Spain will be allowed to apply for the corresponding general and single licence and enter into the Spanish market.
alla@asensi.es
