Codere asked for the urgent regulation of online gaming

Last Tuesday afternoon, it was presented in the Stock Market Palace in Madrid the book called “The Sportsbooks,” sponsored by Codere Foundation together with Thomson Reuters Aranzadi. This act is held within the activities of Codere Foundation, with the aim  to become a space for reflection, debate and investigation around the gaming sector. The presentation was headed by Jaime Lissavetzky, Secretary of State for Sports and counted with the presence of  President of Codere Foundation, José Antonio Martínez Sampedro; Enrique Ossorio Crespo, Deputy counsellor of Economy of Madrid Council; Raúl Fernández de Arroiabe, Deputy counsellor of the Interior of the Basque Country; Luis María Cazorla Prieto, VP of the Editorial Council of Thomson Reuters Aranzadi and Alberto Palomar Olmeda, Director of the book.

In his speech, Martínez Sampedro wanted to focus the attention on the “unfair competition that online gaming, not regulated in Spain yet, means with regards to the activity strictly legalized in which the Spanish company acts, which has been authorized by relevant administrations”. He described the situation as  “unfair and unsustainable for the gaming industry, which is submitted to the regulation in force and, on the contrary, it is absolutely attractive and favourable, for whom is installed in the illegality thanks to the fact that online gaming has not been regulated yet”. He concluded his intervention appealing for “all responsible public administrations, all the gaming industry, as well as all the other interested and affected people, to take urgent measures that lead to the regulation of online gaming.”

His words were commented by Lissavetzky, Secretary of State for Sports, who emphasized in the need to “define clear game rules” and commented about his commitment to work in favour of an “online game regulation by general consent”.

Besides, representatives of Madrid Council and the Basque Country commented their experience as the Autonomous Communities pioneer in the regulation of in-person sportsbooks in Spain, remarking the “naturalness of the process in Euskadi, with a long tradition in sportsbooks” and “the normality in the operation of this new business”. Besides, all the people involved remarked the importance of the book presented, called “The Sportsbooks”, qualifying it as a pioneer and innovative work and inevitable reference for the sector.

Among the public that assisted to the event, there were representatives of the Administration, of associations of the sector in the sports world, such as José Luis Astiazarán, President of the Professional Football League (LFP), operating gaming companies and manufacturers, regulators, legal experts in the sportsbook area as well as media.

Codere Foundation will keep on working with the aim to communicate society a faithful image of the games of chance activity, in favour of the gathering of the public institutions and the gaming industry, and cooperating with regulators and users in order to minimize the possible social impact of this activity.