Belgium’s Starcasino to launch in Spain
The Belgian operator has received licences for sports betting and casino in Spain.
Spain.- Belgium-based Starcasino will launch in Spain, offering both sport betting and online casino. It will use Gaming Innovation Group’s (GiG) player account management system and the Sportnco sportsbook.
Starcasino is one of the largest regulated online and land-based casino groups in Belgium. Alejandro Casanova, country manager for Starcasino Spain, hinted at further geographic expansion beyond Belgium.
“We feel very pleased to have reached an agreement with the GiG Group,” he said. “After many years of work and success in Belgium we have initiated our expansion to other markets, and in Spain have selected GiG’s technologies to successfully face the challenges.”
Hervé Schlosser, managing director for Sportnco Gaming, said: “I am really pleased to have signed this partnership with Starcasino, to power their entry into the appealing Spanish market. I am convinced that our combined sportsbook, platform technology and regulatory experience is well suited to help established operators like Starcasino power into new regulated markets.”
Stanleybet Group to enter Spanish retail betting market
Last week, the UK’s Stanleybet Group announced that it has gained a retail betting licence and rights to enter Spain’s retail betting market in the southern region of Andalusia. It intends to open its first betting shop in Malaga in the first quarter of 2023.
Group CEO Giovanni Garrisi said the group had already identified Spain as its next destination before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be Stanleybet’s eighth European B2C market entry – it already has retail betting shops in the UK, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Italy and Romania.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has warned operators in Spain to monitor online gambling more closely after a sharp increase in fines. It reported that the first six months of the year saw 53 sanctions issued, with operators fined a combined €84.3m. That’s a rise from 21 fines totalling €58m in all of 2021.
The ministry reported that it had imposed disqualification orders against 21 operators, revoking their licences for two years due to “very serious infractions”. According to the DGOJ’s list of infringements, Abundantia BV, CrackerJack Entertainment, Famagousta BV, MOMUS 2006 NV and Purple Rain all committed very serious breaches.
