Court rules Stars' pre-2012 Spain offering was legal
Barcelona court rejects claims brought forward by Codere.
A Barcelona court has ruled in favour of PokerStars and confirmed that it has provided a legal service in Spain since it began operating there in 2001.
The court rejected claims to the contrary brought by predominantly land-based Spanish gaming company Codere. The court ruled that given the lack of regulation prior to June 2012, there was no law preventing egaming operations in the country.
Stars was granted an egaming licence for its dot.es offering by the Spanish General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) in June along with 52 other operators.
PokerStars group general counsel Paul Telford said: “This ruling confirms the legal advice we have been given and which we have followed in Spain for years. We are very pleased the court agreed with our position and look forward to continuing to provide our licensed poker services as the leading brand in the Spanish market.”
In February this year, Codere launched a similar injunction against Sportingbet and its local brand Miapuesta. Consequently, both the Miapuesta.com and dot.es sites were shut down before the company paid a 2m bond to have them reactivated pending an appeal. It had been thought that the legal dispute might delay Sportingbet’s entry into the dot.es market, however the operator went live shortly after the market opened in June.
Codere went live with its own online poker offering in September, launching its Tu Victoria offering on GTECH G2’s Spanish Poker Network, and introducing an online sports betting arm.