The long awaited opening of the Spanish iGaming market has been delayed yet again. Only this time it isn’t the Spanish government stalling the process, it’s the gaming companies looking for some extra time.
As of this writing, an agreement between regulators and the companies receiving Spanish gaming licenses has pushed back the launch of Iberian online gambling from June 2 to June 5. The licenses themselves will still be issued on Friday, June 1 as planned.
Unlike previous delays, there’s actually a good reason for this one.
Never on a Saturday
According to a number of published reports, the licensees collectively agreed that launching new sites on a Saturday was just an invitation to trouble. (And anyone who has launched a new site or software will probably agree with this line of thinking.) The parties agreed that getting hold of software vendors and other mission critical operators would be just too difficult on a Saturday.
Getting ready to step into the Spanish Market? Check out Prepare for Online Gaming Regulation in Spain.
Long Time Coming
At this point a delay of just a few days must not seem like much at all to the companies fortunate enough to be receiving a Spanish iGaming license. After all, they’ve suffered through a whole host of delays, most of the inexplicable type.
At the beginning of the year government regulators were just days away from issuing licenses when they pulled back and issued a six month delay. Though no official reason was given, some gaming industry insiders theorized everything from a conspiracy to keep Spanish lottery revenues high to mere government incompetence.
All of these delays are costing igaming companies revenues they can ill afford to lose.
Still, after a long journey, it looks as though this may be the final delay before the Pesos start rolling in.
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