EXPOJOC once again highlights the need for more regulation and less fiscal charges

Thus, Miguel Ángel Blanes, representative of Axium Consulting, Fernando Prats, director of Tributes and Games of the Community of Madrid; Guillermo Olagüe, Deputy General Director of the Regulation of Gambling; Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, representing the national sector of UGT; or the lawyer of the firm Cuatrecasas, Albert Agustinoy, have expressed their points of view on the matter.

It was Fernando Prats who highlighted the negative world view of the gaming sector; a fact against which it considers that all the sector, of the hand of the administrations, must fight.

In his opinion, the game has no greater externalities than other forms of leisure that can occur in society. In this sense, he appealed to all colleagues in the sector to help improve that perception, fight against some bad practices that still remain, such as the game between children, and no longer aspire to be a social taboo to be able to become a way of leisure more like any other.

Likewise, the director of Taxes demanded that the administrations continue working hand in hand with the companies of the sector and not apply greater tax pressure than the existing one.

For his part, the General Deputy Director of the Regulation of the Game, Guillermo Olagüe, stressed that one of the most deeply held negative perceptions of the collective feeling around the game is gambling. Although he said that only affects 0.3% of the Spanish population, a figure, he said, away from what happens in other countries.

In this regard, Olagüe stressed the importance of regulated advertising to expel all the illegal game that still survives in Spain. However, the deputy director recalled that, although 10% of the online game is still detected irregularly, that percentage has been drastically reduced since 2011, when all the game that was given in this field was done fraudulently.

Asked about taxation, and at the expense of what happens with the General Budgets of the State, Olagüe influenced the tendency to harmonize the different regional legislations.

It should be noted that at present, part of the Spanish regulation regarding online gambling is serving as a model and reference for several European countries.

On behalf of the workers, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (UGT) participated. For the union representative, the regulation of the sector is fundamental to avoid the presence of minors in the rooms, both virtual and physical. Rodriguez, who made a defense of the need for collective agreements, was in favor of a reduction in taxes and gambling taxes that result in better wages and job creation.

In the technical and legal, Alberto Agustinoy stressed that regulation is key to deepen a better image of the sector. In his opinion, the regulation, which he described as demanding, is "one of the best weapons to fight against some of the scourges that this industry supports".