In an attempt to ‘prevent gambling addiction’

Barcelona suspends opening of new gambling venues

Ada Colau's administration wants the restriction to end up becoming permanent so that no other bingo, casino or gaming place is installed in the Catalan capital and they disappear without replacement as those that remain open close.
2019-10-23
Reading time 1:36 min
As of Tuesday, the Barcelona City Council has forbidden the opening of bingo halls, bookmakers, casinos, and any other gaming venues for a year. At the same time, it will not allow to expand the existing 53 in the city.

The Barcelona City Council, whose head is Mayor Ada Colau, has banned the opening of bingo halls, bookmakers, casinos, and any other gaming venues for a year, claiming that it seeks to ‘prevent gambling addiction, especially among young people.’

The city government wants the restriction to end up becoming permanent so that no other bingo, casino or gaming place is installed in the Catalan capital and they disappear without replacement as those that remain open close.

"53 places are many. The goal is that there is not one more and there is less," said the deputy mayor of Urban Planning, Janet Sanz. The Consistory plans to write a plan to extend the minimum distance of 100 meters that the Generalitat establishes that there must be a separation between a betting room and a school or medical center. "We must study how many meters there should be, but now it is insufficient," said the councilor, who has admitted that tightening the rule is intended to "close some of those in areas of risk"; that is to say, that they are outside the radius that the norm of the City council determines, Teller Report says.

In parallel to the veto of new authorizations, the City Council will prevent access to betting websites in municipal offices, public access units and libraries, which was already implemented in some of them. It will also oblige them to enter through the computers of companies contracted by the City Council that provide services to citizens or entities that receive subsidies, which will be used to develop prevention programs against gambling. The Consistory will extend the advice to alert against the game to the educational centers. "We want to minimize the very strong impact it has on health," said Tarafa, who has warned of a higher risk in neighborhoods with low socioeconomic levels and that they end up causing depression and anxiety.

In turn, the City Council claims that the central government does not issue announcements of betting websites during child protection hours. In that sense, Barcelona vetoes the advertising of gaming companies in public transport and in the public spaces of its ownership.

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