Spanish lottery vendors demand online channel regulation
The Dedit and LELL associations warn about the risk of a "digital monopoly" by SELAE. The sector demands urgent regulations to guarantee the profitability of more than 10,600 points of sale and provide legal certainty to a market that already mobilizes 1.5 billion euros annually online.
Lottery administrations in Spain have raised their voices to demand clear regulation of the digital market. Through the Report of the Table for the Profitability and Digitalization of Online Lottery, the associations Defensa Digital (Dedit) and Loteros en la Lucha (LELL) warned that the survival of 18,000 direct jobs depends on regulations that protect small businesses against the excessive advance of direct sales by the State Society of Lotteries and State Betting (Selae).
Jon Urkiola, president of Dedit, highlighted the social function of the commercial network: "We are neighborhood businesses, village businesses, businesses of rural Spain; in small municipalities, the lottery is a service and social fabric."
The challenge of profitability: Commissions frozen for 20 years
The technical report reveals a critical financial situation for lottery vendors, with a loss of profitability exceeding 60% in the last two decades. This decline is attributed to:
- Rising costs: The increase in operating expenses has not been offset.
- Stagnant commissions: Alberto García, president of LELL, denounced that commissions have not been updated in more than 20 years, describing the business as "practically unsustainable" today.
- Inevitable digitalization: Online sales already account for up to 30% of the turnover of many administrations and attracted 2.5 million buyers in the last Christmas Lottery alone.
In search of neutrality: The DGOJ as supervisor
To avoid conflicts of interest, the associations propose a change in the governance of the sector. They ask that the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), and not Selae itself, be the body responsible for authorizing and supervising digital activity. According to lottery vendors, this would guarantee technological neutrality and the necessary transparency to foster investment in the online channel.
"Regulating is not limiting; for us, it is ordering, protecting, and providing certainty," concluded Urkiola, emphasizing that digitalization should be seen as a solution for the traditional model and not as a threat.
Tags: Spain, Spanish lotteries, Dedit