As part of a series of changes to the Law Number 56/2007, published last December 28th, Spain introduced an additional measure in which the government is forced to approve, in a year, a law in which games and bets are regulated, “in particular those made by interactive systems based in electronic communications”.

One of the principles to which the law should attend, is the following: “Assure the compatibility of the new regulation with the norm applied to other environments linked to the supply of these kind of services, specially, the rule to protect under-aged, youngsters, people with gambling problems, on top of the protection of personal data as well as consumers in general, besides the protection of personal data and services from the Information Society”.

Spanish legislators should also establish a regulation on the explotation of gambling activities by interactive systems with regards to the norm and general principles of the rights of the community, and also “articulate a control system on gambling and betting services by interactive systems, which guarantee secure and equal market conditions for operators of such systems as well as proper protection levels to the users”.

One of the main aspects of this new regulation will be the tax part which should attend to the origin of the operations subject to be taxed, while the principle of competence on the territorial environment would correspond to the General Administration of the State when operations are held “in the national territory or involve more than one Autonomous Community”.