Castilla y León congress panel debates ONCE, payment methods and B machines

A panel at the XIX Congreso de Juego de Castilla y León, held in Soria, examined regulatory criteria affecting the different gambling modalities, including ONCE and payment methods, and the interconnection of B-type machines. The session, titled "Los distintos juegos de azar en la encrucijada: ¿evolución o reconversión?", was moderated by Fátima Pablos, director general of taxes of the Junta de Extremadura.

The panel included Carlos Duelo, corporate director of institutional relations at CIRSA; Jesús Serrano, a lawyer specialising in gambling; and Rodrigo García, head of interconnection projects in Castilla y León. The congress brought together business representatives, legal experts and technology professionals.

The debate addressed the need for a global view of the market supported by data on its size and evolution, so that companies and public administrations can understand the sector's main figures when addressing regulatory changes and the needs of each modality. It also covered the diversity of regional regulatory frameworks between autonomous communities, which the panel said raises the challenge of reviewing the criteria applied to activities including recreational machines and betting. References to ONCE and to payment methods brought the regulatory treatment of the different modalities and the mechanisms used in the activity into the discussion.

García's contribution focused on the interconnection of B-type machines, a system that connects terminals to central servers through specific communication infrastructures, allowing information to be transmitted, centralised and consulted. Unlike independent machines, interconnection offers new possibilities for machine management and data handling, and its development requires both suitable technical solutions and a regulatory framework covering the characteristics of these systems, according to the panel.

The panel placed technological evolution alongside other challenges for land-based gambling, including adapting payment methods and reviewing supervision and control criteria. It concluded that these advances must be matched with administrative requirements and the necessary legal guarantees, and left open how technological modernisation can be reconciled with regulation able to respond to market evolution and the particularities of each gambling modality.