No new gambling licenses for Madrid throughout 2020

In Spain and the new coalition government for the Autonomous Community of Madrid has reportedly passed a controversial measure that is to see the jurisdiction institute a temporary ban on the awarding of any new land-based gambling licenses.

According to a Wednesday report from Yogonet.com, the move was announced by the President for the nation’s richest province, Isabel Diaz Ayuso (pictured), last month and will involve a suspension that is initially set to last for the entirety of 2020.

Proliferation predicament:

Diaz Ayuso is a member of the center-right People’s Party and assumed her post in August following regional elections that resulted in no one political group winning an outright majority. The 41-year-old leader reportedly also revealed that the embargo has been conceived as a way of protecting underage and vulnerable members of society following the 125% rise since 2014 in the number of licensed casinos, betting shops and bingo halls in the self-governing region to 678.

Examination exercise:

Yogonet.com reported that the Madrilenian government intends to use the year-long break to investigate the benefits and drawbacks associated with the recent proliferation in licensed gambling venues while recognizing that such enterprises are economically valuable and employ approximately 85,000 people across the whole of Spain including some 15,000 in Madrid alone.

Existing exemption:

However, the source reported that the upcoming one-year licensing break is not due to negatively impact applications that have already been processed, which means that the community of almost 6.7 million inhabitants is to now likely to see around 22 new betting shops open before the end of the month.