What's New in the Gambling Sphere of Ukraine, Spain, Portugal and Other Countries. Traditional Digest From UGW

Ukrainian casinos are expanding the list of their equipment, Spain, Latvia and Belgium are planning to amend the laws on gambling and Switzerland has another online service with poker, roulette and blackjack. Read more about gambling events in the weekly digest from UGW.

New slots and gambling tables will appear in Ukrainian casinos

Based on the results of CRGL meetings held last week, the regulator decided to issue licenses for slot machines to Ukrainian operators.

Thus, the permit for 45 new slots was issued to W1N casino located in Yelysavethrad hotel in Kropyvnytskyi. Another venue of the same brand located in Voskresensky hotel (Sumy) was licensed for six machines.

Two more slot machines will appear at Shangri La operating in Fairmont hotel in Kyiv. First Win LLC, whose casino is located in Tsentralnyi hotel in Kryvyi Rih also received a permit for one more slot.

Casino Premier Palace LLC received a license for 11 gambling tables and three tables with a roulette.

The license for gambling activities was obtained by Volna 4444 LLC. The new venue will be located at Bratislava hotel in Kyiv on an area of ​​700 square meters.

Spain to make gambling safer

The Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs has submitted a draft decree to make the gambling environment safer for users. They are encouraged to amend the 2011 gambling law.

According to the draft, bettors will have to set a limit on spending and playing time before they will be allowed to place bets or activate their accounts.

For licensed operators, the new requirements mean that after each online session, they will be required to send reports to clients, describing detailed expenses and time spent on gambling activities.

The Ministry of Finance of Latvia proposes to change the tax regime for lotteries and gambling

The Latvian Ministry of Finance has prepared amendments to the law on taxation of lotteries and gambling.

The bill proposes to abolish the fixed tax rate on lotteries and gambling in accordance with the practice of other countries and move to taxation of net income received by operators. It is planned to establish a percentage of the difference between the amounts of actually made bets and the winnings.

At the same time, local operator Olympic Casino Latvia opened two new casinos in Riga. The establishments are located at Grand Hotel Kempinski Riga and Radisson Blu Daugava.

Belgium to reduce maximum betting amount

In order to protect citizens from the gambling addiction, Head of the Belgian Ministry of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne proposed to reduce bets in online gambling to 200 euros. According to the minister, the government must protect vulnerable people from the devastating consequences of gambling addiction.

At the end of 2018, the government has already set a limit on sports competitions. Belgians can deposit up to €500 weekly into their online gaming account. However, experts believe that this amount is still too high.

Portuguese gambling venues resumed operations

Portugal's casinos and bingo halls reopened on Saturday, July 24. Customers must have a digital certificate of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to enter.

According to the Minister of Economy of the State, gambling establishments ‘have demonstrated the ability to strictly follow the rules and security measures.’

Another online casino opened in Switzerland

Since July 2019, amendments to the gambling law entered into force in Switzerland, enabling local operators to open online casinos.

The last venue to take advantage of this opportunity was Casino de Neuchâtel. In cooperation with the provider Gamanza Group AG, the company has launched an online casino hurrahcasino.ch.

Thus, all nine big Class A operators took the opportunity to launch an online casino in Switzerland.

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