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Spain – Codere partially wins long running lawsuit against PokerStars

By - 30 May 2017

Spain’s Supreme Court has upheld certain parts of a lawsuit filed by Codere against PokerStars.

Codere filed the complaint in 2011 claiming that the activities of the poker site constituted unfair competition to operators already present in the market as online poker was illegal. While a Madrid court had ruled in Codere’s favour another court in Barcelona found that PokerStars was not operating illegally as it had sought permission to operate and could not be blamed for the fact that there there had been no opportunity to obtain permission to operate.

According to the decision of the Supreme Court, however, the company had “lacked the authorisation required for the activity of gambling and was not a service legally marketed in Spain.” The Supreme Court Decision, which was posted on Codere’s website, states that: “The activity that was developed via the website www.pokerstars.com, in Spanish and targeted at the Spanish public, lacked the relevant authorisation to operate gaming activities in Spain and was not a legally marketed service in Spain. Hence, Reel (PokerStars’ Spanish subsidiary REEL Spain) committed the unfair conducts reflected in articles 21.1.c and 23.1 of the Unfair Competition Act in the case of articles 21 and 23 of such Act, the protected rights are fundamentally those of the consumers to receive accurate and non-misleading information and their right to fair advertising that complies with applicable legal requirements.”

The Supreme Court did not however grant Codere the compensation for the damages that it had requested. Significantly, the court decision points to the fact that “the conduct of the defendant was not isolated, but was generalised in the market and fully tolerated by the competent administrative gaming authorities.”
Based on this reasoning, the Supreme Court did not grant Codere the compensation for any damages.

Today Amaya’s PokerStars offers online sports betting and slots games as well as poker to its Spanish customers having obtained a licence by Spanish regulator the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ).

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