Galicia proposes 18-month minimum before ending certain gaming-machine authorisations
Regulation2 min read
Galicia’s draft 2027 fiscal measures would prevent venue owners or authorisation holders from seeking to end certain machine permits during their first 18 months, the report said. The proposal also expands sanctionable failures involving access-control systems at gaming venues and forecasts €53.7m in gaming taxes for 2027. The draft remains under parliamentary consideration.
Galicia's draft Law on Fiscal and Administrative Measures would change the region's gaming law through its article 42, the report said. The change concerns type B machines and auxiliary betting machines in bars, restaurants and leisure venues. Under the draft, neither the venue holder nor the authorisation holder could request termination until 18 months after the authorisation took effect, unless both parties agree. A termination would take effect on the last day of the quarter following the request.
According to the report, the remainder of the scheme is unchanged. Authorisations will still last at most fifteen years, and they end if activity is interrupted without justified cause for thirty consecutive calendar days. The explanatory statement presents the reform as a way to temper the gambling supply and improve administrative oversight, while leaving business freedom and free competition undiminished.
The same article tightens the rules on access-control systems in gaming halls and other gaming venues. Until now the offence was not having the system where it is mandatory. Under the reform, it would also be sanctionable for the system not to work, to work badly or to fail legal or regulatory requirements.
According to the revenue statement in the draft budget, the Xunta expects to collect €53.7m in gaming tax in 2027. Of that, €43.6m comes from gaming tax rates and €10.1m from the tax on gaming activities, which applies to online gaming. A further €150,000 is forecast from gaming sanctions.
Bingo keeps its reduced tax treatment, with the 2023 measures law having set a 30% rate against the general 50%, linked to maintaining employment. The report said this relief will cost €2.99m in 2027, compared with €3.09m forecast in the 2026 budget.
The Consello da Xunta approved the budget and the accompanying law at an extraordinary meeting on 16 October. Finance and Public Administration councillor Miguel Corgos delivered them on 19 October to the Parliament's president, Miguel Ángel Santalices. The deadline for amendments to the whole text closed at 18:30 on 5 November. Partial amendments close on 14 November, the debate on the whole text is due on 16 November and the final vote is scheduled for 15 December. The report said that, given the PP's absolute majority in the chamber, the text is expected to pass unless partial amendments change it.
Separately, the suggestions period for the draft General Gaming Regulation of Galicia closed on 26 October with 31 contributions, according to the Xunta's Transparency Portal. The published text is still the July version. The remaining steps are an assessment report, an opinion from the Consello Consultivo de Galicia and approval by decree.