Codere moves to Malta and Gibraltar
According to information consulted by our editorial staff, Codere strengthens its presence in Gibraltar and Malta. The two Mediterranean enclaves are known for the amount of online gambling businesses they host. The step is framed in the Spanish legislative context and after the Spanish company moved to Melilla due to favorable tax conditions.
It seems that the tax incentives of the autonomous city of Melilla have not been enough to retain Codere. ©ecemaml/Wikipedia
Malta and Gibraltar or Ceuta and Melilla?
The 2018 legal reform approved by the government of then-President Mariano Rajoy aimed to turn the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla into tax semi-paraíses. This was intended to encourage foreign investment in the two North African enclaves. One of the objectives was attracting online gambling companies thanks to favorable taxation .
The reform of Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro included a tax rebate that reduced the tax on net income to 10% of online operators. In this way, important Spanish companies began to move to Melilla: Luckia, Codere, Recreativos Franco or the owners of Versus.
But the government's idea was not so much to attract Spanish operators as foreign ones, and thus initiate a competition with Malta and Gibraltar, the two favorite locations of the online game in Europe. The move seemed to make sense, especially as a consequence of Brexit.
A couple of years ago Gibraltar already had to accept a sentence of the European justice and adapt to the British taxation that contemplates a 15% fee on the amount played , compared to the 1% paid by online gambling companies until then.
In September of last year the casino software giant Playtech announces the registration of a subsidiary in Ceuta . Playtech operates in New Zealand through two subsidiaries based in Bulgaria. The Spanish operator of Casino777, Mondobets or Sportium also announced their move to the North African city. And they haven't been the only ones.
However, the fiscal measure devised by the People's Party government has been a failure. Malta has continued to attract operators who have been getting ahead of the possible consequences of Brexit . These have been the cases of William Hill or the 888 group, both with licenses to operate in New Zealand.
According to information published by the diary currently there are 10 of the 80 operators licensed to operate in New Zealand those located in Ceuta; in Melilla there are only 5. It is evident that it has not been possible to dispute Malta or Gibraltar its leading position in the online gambling business.
Codere in the spotlight
The opening of a new subsidiary in Gibraltar, after the ones it already has in Malta, is seen by experts as a response to the steps taken by the Spanish executive in matters of regulation from the advertisements of the sports betting houses that, as we reported in a previous edition , will entail significant restrictions.
In this regard, the president of Codere regretted "radical political and social positions” in which, according to his understanding, the new measures designed by Minister Alberto Garzón.
“We are witnessing, in recent years and in some of our markets, that the construction of false beliefs about the reality of the industry - possibly exacerbated by an advertising overexposure of online gambling - is leading to the taking of radical political and social positions regarding it, in many cases unjustifiably, if we take into account the data that emerge from the various statistical and social studies, which do not reflect inappropriate growth of gambling activity, nor prevalence of problematic behavior in recent years.” – Norman Sorensen , Non-executive Chairman, Codere
In 2018 the founders of Codere, the Martínez-Sampedro brothers were dismissed and compensated with 4.6 million euros. The measure was justified as necessary by the losses that the company had accumulated , what he beat Sorensen to the chair of the group.
Codere is leader in sports betting in New Zealand and with a great presence in the Latin American market. The company derives 85% of its gross profits from physical gambling and betting premises.
In this regard, just a month ago Codere initiated a accreditation program in Responsible Gambling hand in hand with the Spanish Confederation of Recreational Game Entrepreneurs in Hospitality (COFAR). From the group is aimed at the creation of “a comprehensive quality service to customers, in a safe environment for the player” , thus affirming its commitment to the best practices of responsibility in recreational gambling.
Now, with the strengthening of its presence in Malta and Gibraltar, Codere seems to taking a step forward in its European expansion , where it already has an important presence in Italy, which represents about 25% of its revenue volume.
