SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alla Serebrianskaia, Marta de Francisco, Sara Lao and Laura Llorca, Asensi Abogados
4.10 Personal Licensing Under the Spanish regulatory framework, there is no personal licensing regime for individuals involved in gambling activities. All licences and authorisations are granted exclusively to corporate operators, not to natural persons. Consequently, there are no personal authorisations, application procedures, annual fees or renewals applicable to individuals.
ple, the bank guarantee for a casino in Catalonia is EUR601,012.10 and EUR60,000 for a gaming hall, while in the Balearic Islands, the guarantee is EUR30,000 for a gaming hall and EUR1 million for betting shops. • Certification reports – applicants must provide certification reports demonstrating compliance with relevant technical requirements. • Certificates and documents proving legal solvency – these include articles of association and deeds of incorporation of the company. • Certificates and documents proving economic solvency – these include annual accounts and cer- tificates that prove the entity is up to date with the Tax Agency and the social security authorities. Spanish gambling regulation does not distinguish between B2C and B2B licences, nor between the law applicable to the operations of one operator and of another. The definition of “gaming operator” states that an operator needs to obtain a licence in Spain in the fol- lowing cases: • if it conducts gambling activity, either wholly or partly, and if its income is linked to gross or net revenue, commissions and any other amounts related to gaming services; or • if it concurrently undertakes any commercialising gambling activity, such as: (a) determining the prizes for tournaments; (b) managing players’ rules, transactions and pay- ment settlements; or (c) managing the gaming platform or the registra- tion of users. Entities that meet the above requirements and that also manage gaming platforms in which they are members, or that other gaming operators join, pooling together stakes coming from their respective users, will be considered as gaming operators and gaming co-organisers. 6. Online Gambling 6.1 B2C Licences
5. Land-Based Gambling 5.1 Premises Licensing
Each region has its own regulation for each type of premises licensing – casinos, gaming halls, bingos and betting shops. Therefore, the requirements for licensing depend on the premises and the autono- mous region in question. While the approach in some regions – regarding requirements such as the number of slots/betting ter- minals, establishments or installations, or the mini - mum size (in square metres) – is more restrictive, in others it is more flexible. Also, in some cases (casino premises for example), licensing is subject to a public tender process. Notwithstanding the above-mentioned regional vari- ation, in general terms the requested documentation aims to prove the legal, technical and economic sol- vency of the applicant. The main requirements and differences that can be identified are as follows. • Corporate form – some regions request a specific form for the corporate entity. The region of Madrid, for instance, requests the corporate form of an SA (equivalent to a standard PLC) for casino licence applications, while in Catalonia there is no specifi- cation regarding the corporate form for casinos or gaming halls. • Minimum share capital – most of the regions require a minimum share capital for betting shops and casinos; for example, in Aragon or the Basque Country, the minimum share capital for a betting shop is EUR1 million. In Madrid, the minimum share capital for casinos is EUR12 million. • Economic guarantees – these also vary by region and type of premises licence; for exam-
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