SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 19 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government Council of the Canary Islands has approved this Thursday, at the proposal of the Minister of Public Administrations, Justice and Security, Julio Pérez, the draft law to modify Law 8/2010, of July 15, on Games and Bets, which will now be sent to the Parliament of the Canary Islands for its regulatory processing through the urgent procedure and the single reading procedure.
The new regulation basically pursues the safeguarding of minors and other groups in need of special protection, and, to this end, among other things, it prohibits certain groups from using recreational machines with cash prizes and those of chance, and broadens the List of people who are prohibited from participating in the games.
It also prohibits the public entity Radiotelevisión Canaria (RTVC) from issuing advertising that promotes gambling –both face-to-face and online–, and advertising on kits, facilities, sponsorship of regional sports betting, provided that the competition, activity or event sports be it municipal, insular, provincial or regional.
Likewise, it suppresses the possibility of installing betting terminals in catering establishments and establishes a minimum distance of 200 meters between gaming establishments and 300 meters between these and educational or child care centers, collects a government note.
The head of Public Administrations, Justice and Security had already presented to the Government, on April 22, 2021, a report and articulated text of the Draft Law.
The latter, after being informed, had expressed his favorable feeling about the opportunity of the initiative, its objectives and the general principles that inspire it, and had agreed to continue with its processing.
Subsequently, on December 7, 2022, already as a bill, it was taken into consideration by the Government and sent to the Advisory Council for its mandatory opinion.
The new law will comply with Resolution 10L/PNLP-0065, on the effective regulation of gambling and betting in the Canary Islands against addictions, approved by the Parliament of the Canary Islands in December 2019 and the second transitory provision of Law 2/ 2020, of October 14, on the suspension of enabling titles for new premises and other complementary measures regarding games and bets.
In said resolution, the Government was urged, within the scope of its competence, to effectively regulate the prohibition of the access of minors to the different gaming establishments, requiring them to install not only a reception service at the entrance of the property, but also a blocking system in the betting terminals, similar to the one existing in tobacco machines.
PREVENT CHILDREN FROM PLAYING
All this with the aim of preventing minors and people who are registered in the General Register of Gambling Access Bans, also called self-banned, or those who have this activity restricted by court ruling, from gambling.
In addition, the Executive of the Canary Islands was urged to paralyze, as a precautionary measure, the granting of new licenses for the opening of gambling venues, until the entry into force of the new regulation, and to promote the creation of a panel of experts, together with a process of citizen participation, for a thoughtful, consensual and profound reform of the regulatory framework regarding gambling and betting, as well as for the implementation of sufficient information, prevention and awareness campaigns in the different areas deemed necessary.
In compliance with the aforementioned resolution, the Government of the Canary Islands has already approved Decree Law 5/2020, of April 2, on the suspension of enabling titles for new premises and other complementary measures regarding games and betting until December 31, 2020. .
After its promulgation, Parliament approved Law 2/2020, of October 14, on the suspension of enabling titles for new premises and other complementary measures in the field of games and bets.
The second transitory provision of this last law establishes that the Government of the Canary Islands will promote, within three months from its entry into force, a legislative initiative that, in addition to approving the determinations derived from the aforementioned resolution, will review both the sanctioning regime in which affects the possible presence of minors in gambling establishments such as the advertising, sponsorship and promotion regime applicable to the game developed in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands.
