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 The Casino Cashier at Amber Coast
1 Jan 2007
According to recent business publications on the South African press, both land based and online casino sites are considering options in the newly liberated gambling environment that is Spain. As a reminder, last month Spain announced that it will be more liberal on gambling policies, something which has cheered up online casino fans in the country, and around the world. In addition, an industry source told that Sun International, one of the local gaming companies, plans to enter the online gaming industry next year, supposedly taking advantage of the new laws in Spain.
These new online casino laws are set to take effect next month, initially starting in the capital Madrid, and then spreading to other regions of the country. According to a recent research made by Munich-based Media & Entertainment Consulting Network, Spaniards gambled about Euro 29 billion last year, and that sum is expected to grow to Euro 39 billion by 2010, a big part of it at online casino sites. In addition, they spent Euro 12 billion on lottery tickets alone in 2005, showing the huge potential of the country when it comes to gambling.
"Spain is a huge market for online casino sites, as they are mad for sports and have a reasonable gambling culture" says Cairan O'Brien, spokesmen for Europe's biggest bookmaker. "We're seriously considering entering the Spanish market soon, but we still have to consider a few more things before doing it" he added. According to the Media & Entertainment Consulting Network, the biggest potential for Spanish growth lies in sports betting and online casino sites, as they are rather limited nowadays.
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