Online Gambling Regulation Spreads Throughout Europe

Belgium has joined the world of regulated internet gambling and the Belgium Gaming Commission has just announced which websites they have approved. The list consists of three online poker rooms, four online casinos and two sports books. Belgian poker players can now enjoy PokerStars.be, Partouche.be and GPWin.be, however, despite the .be domain names, Belgians will still be playing at tables with competitors from across the world.

The gambling regulations which passed last year in Belgium are somewhat controversial due to the large number of restrictions they contain. Players in Belgium can only play on approved sites otherwise they face criminal penalties. The largest ISPs in Belgium are going to be blocking websites on the Belgium Gaming Commissions’ black list. Furthermore all online operators must be associated with a land based casino. It is also unclear whether players’ winnings will be regarded as taxable income; however there will be an update to gambling laws soon which is expected to resolve this.

Spain was also due to begin regulating online gambling in the New Year, however, they have now announced that there will be a six month delay in the implementation of the gambling laws. The delay is so that the regulators will have more time to review licence applications. It is now expected that the new regulation will come into effect on June 30th.
Spain’s new gambling regulations were passed in February of last year and since then 61 operators, including major names such as PokerStars, 888, bwin.party, Ladbrokes and GBT have submitted applications for licenses.

It is expected that the Spanish online gambling market will be hugely successful and be worth around 680 million euros by the year 2015. The Spanish government have set gambling taxes at just 25% of gross revenue which will make it very appealing to online gambling operators. It is because of this that so many operators are competing to join the market next June.