Spain's gaming industry is mounting a strategic counteroffensive against what operators describe as ideological persecution, using hard compliance data to challenge regulatory narratives that frame gambling as inherently harmful.
The opening roundtable of ANESAR's 13th Congress, titled "Gaming in Positive: Regulation, Control and Balance for the Future of the Sector," became a platform for industry leaders to confront what they characterised as semantic manipulation and regulatory bias affecting both legislation and public discourse.
The Battle for Language Control
Moderator Jaime Criado framed the discussion around three pillars needed to defend gaming positively: intelligent regulation, effective control, and balance that removes stigma from public debate. The session quickly evolved into a critique of how regulatory language shapes public perception.
Sociologist José Antonio Gómez-Yáñez delivered a pointed analysis of semantic manipulation in official reports, particularly challenging the term "prevalence" commonly used in gambling studies.
“Prevalence is a medical term, it's the percentage of population affected by a disease. If we say that 'gambling prevails', we are implicitly assuming that gambling is a disease.”
— José Antonio Gómez-Yáñez, Sociologist
Gómez-Yáñez criticised official surveys like ESTUDES and EDADES, arguing that questionnaire designers lack market knowledge and mix concepts crudely, creating false impressions that minors access gaming venues normally.
Understanding ANESAR
ANESAR (Asociación Nacional de Empresas de Salones de Recreación) represents Spain's gaming hall operators and has been hosting annual congresses for over a decade to address industry challenges. The organization serves as the primary voice for recreational gaming venues across Spanish regions.
Compliance Reality Versus Perception
The sociologist presented striking statistics to counter negative narratives. In Spain, people receiving treatment for problematic gambling consistently number 8,000 annually, representing just 0.024% of the adult population. These cases constitute only 3% of the population with drug dependency problems.
“These 8,000 individuals represent only 3% of the population with drug dependency problems... We have administrations that seem to be pursuing the Holy Grail of 0% problematic gambling, which is impossible. Being at 0.3% is already an excellent result.”
— José Antonio Gómez-Yáñez, Sociologist
8,000
People receiving gambling treatment annually
0.024%
Percentage of adult population with gambling problems
3%
Share of drug dependency problems attributed to gambling
0.3%
Current problematic gambling rate in Spain
Regional Regulatory Pushback
Ramón Cubián, director general of Suelo for the Community of Madrid, highlighted ideological bias within Spain's national gambling regulator DGOJ, describing his departure from the regulator's last congress after seeing a panel titled "the damage of gaming."
“I don't understand that a regulator presents a panel saying 'the damage of gaming'. It's starting from the basis of saying: look, I'm the regulator of an activity and I believe you are all harmful... the problem we have is that they've put a bullfighting opponent to manage the bullring.”
— Ramón Cubián, Director General of Suelo, Community of Madrid
Cubián's Madrid inspection data contradicts regulatory concerns about industry compliance. After conducting over 30,000 inspections in the region, the sanction rate remains below 0.7%, with minimal presence of minors in gaming venues.
“In 2025 in gaming venues of the Community of Madrid, zero minors. Zero. In 2024, one; in 2023, zero... the percentage is negligible. Build your narrative from there, because whoever says that gaming activity threatens national security is lying.”
— Ramón Cubián, Director General of Suelo, Community of Madrid
Best Practices for Gaming Venue Compliance
Madrid's exceptionally low sanction rate demonstrates that comprehensive inspection protocols, staff training on age verification, and clear signage regarding responsible gaming can achieve near-perfect compliance rates. Operators should implement biometric systems and regular compliance audits to maintain similar standards.
Economic Contribution Quantified
Cubián highlighted the sector's substantial tax contribution, noting that Madrid's €150 million in gambling revenue equals the cost of over 700,000 emergency hospital visits, representing approximately 20% of Madrid's emergency healthcare costs.
Healthcare Cost Context
The comparison between gaming revenue and emergency healthcare costs illustrates the gaming sector's significant fiscal contribution to public services. Each euro generated by the gaming industry effectively subsidizes essential healthcare infrastructure that benefits all Madrid residents.
Industry Evolution and Double Standards
Óscar Delgado, director of Joc Privat, condemned the "perversion of language" affecting gaming machines, lamenting the loss of "recreational" terminology in current regulations. He criticised DGOJ's recent safe gaming protocol for treating gameplay as inherently suspicious.
“What it says from the start is that the mere act of playing implies suspicion of great impact... if we start from the basis that the act of playing already raises suspicion of something, we are obviously approaching something wrong.”
— Óscar Delgado, Director, Joc Privat
This sentence is incomplete and requires completion or revision of admission services and biometrics. However, he demanded reciprocal treatment from administrations, highlighting unequal treatment compared to SELAE and ONCE, entities enjoying privileges and exemptions unavailable to private gaming operators.
Warning
The differential treatment between private gaming operators and state-sanctioned entities like SELAE and ONCE creates potential legal challenges under EU competition law. Private operators may face stricter compliance requirements while state entities enjoy regulatory exemptions for identical activities.
Strategic Repositioning Imperative
The roundtable concluded with consensus that while the sector possesses compelling data, it must construct a human, positive, and courageous narrative to influence public opinion currently shaped by prejudice and inadequate information rigour.
The session revealed a sector transitioning from defensive positioning to strategic offensive action, leveraging compliance excellence and economic contribution data to challenge regulatory assumptions and semantic manipulation affecting policy development and public perception.
According to AzarPlus.
