Spain is open to receive a new wave of online licence application

Spain’s gambling regulator is launching a new licensing tender for online operators in the country. It is the third window for licence applications since the state online gaming market was regulated in 2011.

The Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) said it welcomes applications from entities interested in offering games via electronic, telematic or interactive channels in Spain.

The window for applications will be open for a year, and comes at a boom time for online gaming in Spain.

For the three months to September 30, revenue from the regulated market came in at €140.5m ($163.6m), 37.3% more than in the third quarter of last year and 16.6% higher than the second quarter of the current year.

“The proper functioning of the regulated online gaming market is fundamental to ensure that gaming activity is sustainable and compatible with social welfare, making it possible to channel it into an adequate legal framework and with all the guarantees that regulation establishes for consumers,” the DCOJ said in a statement.

“The new opening, together with the improvement of competitiveness and the level of protection through the regulatory framework, is essential to achieve the above, by allowing operators of proven probity and viability to access the Spanish market, complementing the existing offer and strengthening the constant dynamics of technological innovation characteristic of this environment.”

The DCOJ is also consulting over new advertising rules that would allow betting commercials before the watershed.

It is consulting on draft advertising regulations until January 12, with progress having stalled over the last two years.

“This project aims to ensure a sufficient degree of protection for consumers of games of chance, both in the publicity they receive and in their gaming practices, as well as other vulnerable groups, such as minors,” the DCOJ said in a statement.

“At the same time, we try to provide stability and certainty to the operators and other related agents, in a fundamental dimension as is their advertising and promotional practice.”