Spanish draft bill to regulate online gambling puts more than €100m in advertising and sponsorship for Spanish sports at risk

Madrid/Brussels/London, 14 December 2010 – The Spanish regional and federal governments will meet this week to discuss the final form of a Draft Bill to regulate the online gambling market in Spain, due to be presented to Parliament early in the New Year.

Consumers and online betting operators welcome Spain’s initiative to regulate its online gaming market. The bill leaked to the press will give rise to a forward thinking and effective licensing regime for the sector. But the bill is likely to be counterproductive if the taxation on turnover (total takings) applied to sports betting is retained in its final form.

“A betting tax on turnover (applied to every transaction) is not the right way to tax the industry, even if the rate were lower than the proposed 10%, as it does not allow operators to offer competitive products to consumers” said Agustín Torres, Secretary of AEDAPI (Spanish Association of Online Gamblers) today. “A tax applied to gross gaming revenue, defined as turnover less winnings, to be enacted for all other forms of gambling in Spain, is the only sensible way to effectively tax sports betting. Such approach will bring consistency to the Spanish online gambling market, and enable the maximum number of operators to apply for licences.”

“AEDAPI estimates that more than €100m in sponsorship and advertising revenue is currently invested each year by the major European sports betting operators in Spain, and this is at risk under this proposal”, indicated Torres.

An uncompetitive licensed sports betting market is likely to result in many consumers looking online for products offered by unregulated operators. Recently, taxation has been under scrutiny in France, where a new licensing regime launched prior to the World Cup applies a high turnover tax to sports betting.

The online gambling industry would welcome the opportunity to share its expertise during a public consultation.

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About AEDAPI

The Spanish Association of Internet Bettors (AEDAPI in Spanish) is an independent non-profit organisation whose main purpose is to foster more positive regulation to enable the development of a deregulated market that is open to borderless sport betting over the Internet with free competition. For further comment, please contact Tinkle: Victor Fernandez, Tel: (+34) 93 445 43 51 Email: contacto@aedapi.com
 
About EGBA

The EGBA is an association of leading European gaming and betting operators Bet-at-Home.com, BetClic, bwin, Digibet, Expekt, Interwetten, PartyGaming and Unibet. EGBA is a Brussels-based non-profit association. It promotes the right of private gaming and betting operators that are regulated and licensed in one Member State to a fair market access throughout the European Union. For further comments, please contact: Sigrid Ligné at the EGBA: 50 Rue Gray, 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel:+32/2/554 0890; Fax: +32/2/554 0895

About RGA

The RGA is the largest online gambling trade association in the world representing over 30 the world’s largest licensed and stock market-listed remote gambling operators and software providers (a full list of those members can be obtained from www.rga.eu.com). The organization provides the remote gambling industry with a single voice on all issues of importance to regulators, legislators, and key decision makers around the world. For further comments, please contact Jason Foley-Train jfoleytrain@rga.eu.com  6th Floor, High Holborn House, 52-54 High Holborn, London WC1V 6RL Telephone:+44 (0)207 831 2195