The City Council of Madrid has followed suit of Barcelona and Valencia and decided to temporarily suspend the licensing of new gambling establishments and bookmakers.
The ban is set to come into force as soon as possible, although no specific date has been unveiled. The length of the prohibition still remains unknown, at least until the regional government approves and implements its federal decree on gambling.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, President of Madrid City Council, confirmed that such a decision has been made and explained that it has come to address the large increase of the gambling sector in Madrid. As Ms. Ayuso highlighted, the gambling-related businesses in the city expanded well above Spain’s average, with an increase of 125% registered over the past five years.
The increase in the number of gambling services available in the city of Madrid encouraged the authorities to make the decision to protect the best interest of local customers and communities. As revealed by the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, the newly-unveiled ban on licensing of gambling establishments and bookmakers is in line with some other measures that have been aimed at tackling spreading popularity of gambling and rising number of gambling addiction cases.
A Total of 678 Gambling Establishment Were Operating in Madrid as of September 2019
The regional president highlighted the fact that some districts have seen an excessive concentration of gambling activities over the past few years. According to official data, as of September, there were 678 gambling venues in Madrid, of which 470 were bookmaker lounges, 171 were described as specific betting establishments, and 33 were classified as bingo halls. There were also 4 casinos.
Only a year earlier, there were 380 gambling halls and 190 land-based bookmaker shops in the region. For the time being, online gambling services are regulated by state regulations, rather than the autonomous governments.
Madrid is not the first Spanish city that has taken measures against rising problem gambling rates, especially the ones among young people in the country. Not long ago, Barcelona and Valencia became the first two cities in Spain to unveil effective measures to tackle spreading gambling-related harm by stricter gambling regulation measures.
The local governments have addressed the Spanish Executive, seeking to ban gambling advertisements in public and in the media. They have criticized gambling companies for using popular public figures such as professional athletes to attract young people to their services. The autonomous community of Andalusia was also willing to follow the example of Barcelona and Valencia’s governments but the regional government rejected the proposed draft at the beginning of October 2019.
Now, the city of Madrid has continued to follow its tougher stance on the local gambling sector. Madrid City Council also expanded the penalties imposed for so-called gambling infringements – offenses related to in-store verification failures, attracting underage individuals to gambling and violation of gambling advertising standards.
