Presidential Adviser Has Defended in the Cortes the Bill to Modify the Law Regulating Gaming and Betting of Castilla y León

SPAIN (March 15, 2024) — The advisor to the Presidency, Luis Miguel González Gago, has appeared before the Plenary Session of the Cortes (Congress of Deputies and the Senate) to explain the general lines of the new modification of the Gaming Law of Castilla y León, which, after having been approved by the Chamber, will update this standard, which dates back to 1998.

González Gago has defended in the Cortes the Bill to modify the Law Regulating Gaming and Betting of Castilla y León, a Bill that, having been endorsed by the majority of the attorneys of the regional Parliament, has become a new autonomous Law, whose purpose is to update a regulation that has been in force for 26 years, and in which, according to the advisor to the Presidency, “it was unavoidable to include new regulatory measures appropriate to today’s reality in this matter ”.

The counselor explained how, in the process of modifying the Law, “central importance has been given to collaborative dialogue between the regional government and all key actors in the field of gaming and betting.”

As a result of this dialogue, the legal text has been able to consider the needs and requests of the gaming business sector, user associations, worker representatives and municipal, regional and state administrations. González Gago has highlighted the great importance of this social consensus, which has been reached through the different meetings held around the Responsible Gaming Table of Castilla y León.

As a result of this consensus, the text of the modification is based on two general principles: on the one hand, to establish the greatest and best protection of vulnerable people who may be affected by this activity, and, on the other, to offer legal security to this sector. business, which supports some 2,000 jobs in Castilla y León, and which produces important tax revenues that revert to the provision of essential public services.

In fact, one of the most striking modifications of this Law is the establishment, for the first time, of the final nature of the collection obtained from the imposition of sanctions, whose main destination will be the financing of prevention and rehabilitation programs for people with mental health problems. gambling addiction, prevention campaigns and training actions, and social, educational and public health programs. The sanctions regime and their amounts have been defined normatively as already provided for in the 1998 Law.

Administration and gaming sectors, together for the protection of vulnerable people

The advisor to the Presidency has highlighted that “one of the priority objectives of this modification is to deepen responsible gaming policies, in order to create a safer and more conscious gaming environment, and guarantee due protection of public health.” .

In this sense, the Law includes the intensification of entry control to specific establishments, which from now on must have an individualized record of visitors, and absolutely limits the viewing of these establishments from the street.

In addition, the distance that must exist between any of these establishments and official formal education centers is extended from 100 to 150 meters. A new regime of minimum distances of 300 meters is also established between different specific gaming and betting establishments, to avoid saturation areas.

Regarding the promotion, advertising and sponsorship of gaming activity, González Gago has announced that any campaign of this type will be subject to prior administrative authorization, except for those developed within specific establishments or through specialized media.

Finally, the plan to create a Technical Commission for the Coordination of Responsible Gambling within the autonomous Administration stands out, which will be tasked with the preparation and monitoring of the Strategy for the Prevention and Treatment of Pathological Gambling, in which the measures will be addressed. coordinated in order to prevent problematic consumption.

Added to the implementation of these measures is the recognition of the independence of the gaming sector to determine the conditions of access to its establishments (always respecting the fundamental principles of non-discrimination), as well as to adopt the necessary measures to guarantee safety and the quality in its operation. In the words of the counselor, “these provisions are aimed at providing legal security to companies, promoting an environment conducive to the development of their business activity.”

González Gago has stated that this legal text “will be, without a doubt, the most modern in Spain” in its field. After the publication in the BOCyL of this Law approved in the Cortes, a period of 20 calendar days must elapse until its entry into force.

SOURCE: Sector Del Juego.