EUROPEAN REGULATION
ROMANIA
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Any operator from an EU/EEA
jurisdiction or the Swiss Confederation can apply
for a licence. Lottery games remain reserved for the
monopoly.
Status: The Romanian government passed
legislation in 2014 that allows entities within the
EU to apply for a licence, imposes a reform on
licence fees and eliminates many (but not all) of
the tax burdens placed on player revenues. The
Gambling Law (as amended) introduced a legal
framework for a fully regulated online gambling
market and requires licences to be held by online
gambling operators, as well as software providers,
payment processors, affi liates and testing labs. After
some delay, the secondary legislation that fully
implemented the new licensing regime came into
force on 26 February, 2016.
SLOVAKIA
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Monopoly, save that land-based
sports-betting operators can offer services online
owing to a legal loophole.
Status: In November 2016, a bill amending the
existing gambling legal framework was approved.
The amendments, which entered into force on
1 January, 2017, included the introduction of ISP
and payment blocking of illegal online gambling
offerings in the Slovak territory. Slovakia’s Financial
Directorate began to perform its supervisory function
over these blocking measures from 1 July, 2017. New
draft legislation has been notifi ed to the EC with a
view to liberalising the market in 2019. The proposed
legislation, if passed, will allow private EU/EEA
operators to apply for online gambling licences.
SLOVENIA
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Online gambling must be operated
by land-based casinos or lotteries and, as a result,
only the monopoly holds online licences in Slovenia.
Status: Draft amendments to the Gaming Act were
published in 2015, which aim to remove the current
local establishment requirement. The proposal is
yet to be submitted to the Slovenian parliament,
although it is expected to be adopted in 2018.
Whether any amendments will introduce a formal
licensing system remains unclear.
SPAIN
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Private operators can apply for
licences for all gambling products save for lottery.
Status: First online licences were issued on 1 June,
2012. Operators must hold a general licence and
a specifi c licence, both issued by the National
Gambling Commission, for each activity. The
Spanish regulatory body DGOJ has formally
opened its third call for tender, with applications
for online licences accepted from operators for a
period of one year, until 18 December, 2018. On
16 January, 2018, online poker liquidity sharing
between Spain and France came into effect. The
2018 parliamentary budget was passed into law in
June 2018, resulting in a reduction to gambling tax
effective as of 1 July, 2018.
SWEDEN
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Only public-benefi t organisations,
the horse racing industry and the state lottery
may obtain a licence. No licences are available for
private operators, although this will change with the
introduction of the new legal framework.
Status: The Swedish parliament adopted a bill that
will introduce an online-gambling licensing regime.
The law is expected to enter into force on 1 January,
2019, with the licence application process open as of
1 August, 2018.
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