“If the bingo sector of the Community of Madrid does not have the possibility to introduce new areas of business to innovate and expand the range of its entertainment offers, it will close and there will be no possibility of continuing,” said Jose Luis Merino, General Secretary of ASEJU, who was categorical in his statements. ASEJU and OMEGA represent the bingo halls of Madrid.
The bingo industry is among all gaming sectors, which maintain more jobs in Madrid with 59 operating halls, 2500 direct jobs and about the same number indirectly. In addition, it is an important lifeline for the coffers of the Community of Madrid, which last year collected 300 million euro from bingo.
The Ministry of Finance of the Community of Madrid must resolve another important demand of the sector, namely the tax cuts. They claim to adopt a model similar to Italy, which reduced the tax from winning by 50% and improved to 70% the prize percentage. Currently, the tax burden rises to 61.11% over the total collection.