Madrid council has decided to regulate Internet betting and gaming and will authorize the creation of specific venues to make the bids. It will be a reality between the end of the year and the beginnings of the next one, according to the sources of the Economic Department. The new Gambling Regulations are nearly finished. One of the novelties of the new rules is the authorization of betting houses.

Betting will be allowed in bingos, casinos and gambling venues. Besides, football stadiums and sports pavilions will have authorized areas in which players will be able to bet. The only limit for this acticity will be issues related to personal rights and individual freedom, honor, privacy and issues connected to youth and childhood. Political or religious subjects will not be permitted either.

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Bets may be internal or external, depending on the way they are made: in the betting center, by phone or Internet. There will also exist compensation bets, those in which the player makes a bet and the prize is obtained by multiplying the cost by the rate set by the company.

There will also be two more types of bets: mutual bets, as a result of the sum of the total of the money bet distributed among all the winners in a result. The fund allocated to prizes may not be inferior to the 70 per cent of the total of the full amount. Finally, the last type of bet are the crossed ones, in which people bet against each another and the company simply acts as an intermediary and guarantor of process.

The firm will have a five-percent commission. Betting will only be allowed in gambling centers and web pages authorized by the council.

Once the rule comes into force, companies authorized to have bingos, gambling centres and casinos will be able to open its own web page, but just for the authorized content. On top of that, every company may apply for a license in a three to six month period, as long as they comply with all the requirements.

Under-aged people will be banned, as well as people legally or voluntarily disquallified to gamble. Directors and employees from the firms that operate the bets will not be authoirized to participate either.

Companies which have web pages dedicated to bets and casino games will have to be connected to the General Tax Direction of the Council of Madrid, as well as the General Direction of Gambling Management and Control.

The regional government aims to control this type of activities the maximum possible, and will set a fiscal rate of 10% to the firms, from the money resulting from the total collection minus prizes. The minimum bet will be 1 euro and there will be no limit.
Nowadays, Catalonia, Basque Country and Aragon are regions that, together with Madrid, are completing the regulation of this type of games.

The gambling sector of the Council has more than 9,500 direct employments and more than 22,000 indirect employments. There are two casinos in the region, 71 bingo halls, 44 entertainment venues, 172 gambling centres and 1,450 operating firms that generate 1,2 billion euros in incomes. From the fiscal point of view, the Council collected 335 million euros, which was the 2.2% of the budget of regional incomes last year.