Europe’s most popular online poker room, PokerStars, is expanding its global presence and games availability once more. The operator has been granted a provisional licence to provide online slots and sports betting services to the Spanish market via PokerStars Spain.
PokerStars has led the UK online poker market for years, but more importantly ever since obtaining a licence from the UK Gambling Commission to launch PokerStars.co.uk, as required by last year’s amendment to iGaming regulations. The same can be said of the region-specific PokerStars Spain, (PokerStars.es) internet poker operation, which has existed much longer.
When Spanish gambling regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) chose to authorize restricted forms of internet gambling, PokerStars was among the first to be approved to launch an online poker room in the state. PokerStars Spain officially launched on June 5, 2012, and when Amaya Gaming took over the site’s parent company, a casino table games platform soon followed.
OnlinePokerRealMoney.co.uk tries to dispel some legal confusions stemming from passage of George Bush's UIGEA of 2006 . Federal status seems to depend on interpretation of the wire act and other laws which were crafted many years ago and which remained high level in nature. The United Kingdom has much clearer laws including their own real money gambling commission .
Just recently, the Spanish government chose to lift restrictions on other forms of internet gambling, including online slots and sports betting. PokerStars Spain took the initiative to enter those new markets immediately, and were proud to announce the reception of a provisional licence to do so.
“We’re very pleased to receive provisional licences to expand our games offering on PokerStars in Spain,” said an enthusiastic President of Southern Europe Operations for PokerStars, Gino Appiotti. “Our operation of online poker, live poker and now online casino shows that players trust us to deliver a variety of games in a fun and exciting way.”
On behalf of PokerStars Spain, Appiotti went on to say, “We look forward to building on this by launching games under these new licences.”
Other Operators Licenced for Slots/Sports in Spain
The DGOJ also granted provisional licences to a cluster of other interested operators with hopes of extending their services to slots and sports betting in Spain. Among the dozen operators are Bally Interactive, Betclic Eurobet, Net Entertainment, Novomatic and Playtech.
Playtech was handed its provisional license last week, followed by a statement from Chief Operating Officer Shimon Akad. “The inclusion of online casino games and slots in Spain is a major breakthrough and will serve to increase our market share there,” said Akad.
“Our licensees and their players can now enjoy a complete Omni-Channel gaming solution online, on any mobile device, in-venue, and in retail outlets, across casino, bingo, poker, sports, virtual, live, and social, casual and fixed-odds games.”
PokerStars Spain Sports Betting Goes Live
PokerStars Spain was able to launch its new Spanish sports betting services just in time to accept wagers on the Arsenal vs Aston Villa English FA Cup Finals on Saturday, May 30. Only a handful of sporting events were open for betting at the launch, but the website clearly indicates that more sports will be arriving on the menu soon enough.
The PokerStars 7 software that powers the Spanish sports betting site can be accessed by members of PokerStars Spain, using their existing login credentials, via the desktop client, or on any Android/ iOS mobile device or tablet.