Stanleybet will begin in the region of Andalusia with a betting shop in Malaga.

Spain.- The UK’s Stanleybet Group has 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.

Garrisi said: “We had started the process for obtaining the licence already in 2019. The pandemic inevitably slowed down the procedures. In the meantime, we continued to dialogue with the Andalusian authorities to complete the process once everything returned to normal.”

He said Stanleybet aimed to shake things up in Spain’s retail betting market, in which Codere, EGASA, Orenes and Sportium tend to be strong in particular autonomous communities. 

“Andalusia represents an extremely vast market with a very high development potential,” Garrisi added. “We will start from Malaga, where we are already working on the opening of the first shop, scheduled for the first quarter of 2023, and then continue in the other cities.”

Stanleybet country manager for Spain Antonio Stanzani said: “Our business model, already successfully applied in other countries, such as Belgium and Cyprus, includes both types because we believe that flexibility is one of the factors that have led us to succeed in various markets.

“Our first shop will be a ‘tienda de apuestas’, to imprint and export our style also in Andalusia, but we are already in contact with several Spanish entrepreneurs who have chosen Stanleybet to start thriving and lasting partnerships in the betting and gaming industry, in which we have been a leader since 1958.”

Spain steps up fines for breaches of online gambling rules

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.

Meanwhile, 17 penalties of between €4m and €5m were issued for “serious infractions” of gambling legislation. Betfair Spain, Codere and 888Sport were among the biggest operators to face sanctions.

The minister of consumer affairs, Alberto Garzon, warned that the fines showed that operators needed to monitor more closely. Last month, the Senate passed new Spanish gambling legislation to introduce in-play safeguards and spend limits on online casino and slots plus new customer care duties on access, player registrations and the monitoring and reporting of customer play.