Spanish betting is getting brighter

EUROVEGAS could soon be touching down in Europe, as e-gaming laws start to flourish. Starting this week, Spanish National Gaming Commission is issuing licenses as it tries to legitimize and tax online casinos.

Nilda Cerna, who works for GranViaOnline said: “the whole (e-gaming) sector is an innovator,” says Cerna. “The changes come with the technology.” This is pushed forward by advertising. One of the most visible marketing is certainly the e-gambling site “Bwin,” which is on the front of each of the white Real Madrid jerseys. This is costing Bwin a whopping 45 million euros for three years. Of course, all around Europe and even in the Spanish champion South African World Cup, the football stadium rails are lined with online gambling ads. However, there still aren’t many laws governing the online advertising of gambling.

Smartplanet.com reported: “Online gambling in Spain has seen a boost from the recession. Cerna reckons it’s because it’s more economical to place a two euro bet on a virtual table, than a 5,300 euro one to compete in this weekend’s poker tournament at Madrid’s Casino de Torrelodones. Plus, she says, with nearly a quarter of the population unemployed, online gambling “is rising for a natural reason because they have more time to play.”

With Spain’s e-gaming up 60 percent in 2011, popularity is certainly growing. She says that the industry is witnessing slightly smaller deposits into their online accounts because everyone is waiting for the new law that comes fully into effect this summer.”

“As always, the winners must pay (taxes,) but they don’t always declare,” Cerna says, “but now it’s easier for the government to investigate.” Smaller online “salas” or gambling rooms help to facilitate the monitoring of winnings. Cerna says, however, that big gamblers go to other countries, like the UK and Spain-adjacent Gilbrator, Portugal and Thailand, to avoid taxation.

OnlineCasinoReports.com says that Spanish online gambling is set to “boom” in the next five years. They believe that Spain’s online gambling market could grow to around 680 million euros in the next three years. Spain had about 600,000 online gamblers last year, which was a 60-percent increase, and this industry generated about 370 million euros in profit. Clearly, taxing these amounts would be a huge revenue for the Spanish government.