Spain is embracing online poker by granting licenses while the U.S. Department of Justice continues its effort to weed out online poker in America.

Many countries in Europe are understanding the need for regulating and licensing online poker and opening their doors to online gambling operators with new regulation systems being put in place.

Casino Gran Madrid, which hosted this year's European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final after its move away from Monte Carlo,  has received Spain's first online gaming license from the autonomous region of Madrid. The land-based casino received its license on May 17th and is now certified to offer poker, blackjack, roulette and the puggie's (slot machines) on its website, which will launch soon and be powered by PlayTech software.

Earlier this month, Spain's governing bodies approved and made amendments to its Gambling Act, allowing the country to regulate online gambling within autonomous regions around the whole country. The new rules establish a tax regime licensing system for companies wishing to operate in Spain, with safeguards put in place to protect problem gamblers and underage abuse.

The online casino will only accept players from the autonomous region of Madrid over the age of 18 tears. 

Testing on the proposed site will take place over the next few weeks. The software will undergo severe testing at first with more than 200 million simulated plays being run during the certification process. This will ensure that the servers can handle the traffic and check for any technical issues or potential security problems. All being well, the site could live and fully operational later this summer.

Playtech software is best known for powering the iPoker Network, currently the third largest ranked online poker room in terms of traffic laying only behind Pokerstars and Full Tilt. Well known operators on the iPoker Network include our own sponsors BETFRED, Titan Poker, William Hill and Bet365.

A spokesman for Playtech said: "We are delighted to have secured this agreement with one of Europe's largest and most respected land based operators. We expect this to be a significantly valueable accretive relationship, exemplifying our strategy to increase the number of regulated markets in which we operate."

Spain's new online gambling licenses joins in with other EU countries to do the same in recent years, including France, Italy and Estonia. Denmark is also ready to introduce a new licensing system this year, but the legislation has been slightly delayed.

Remember "It's Not Just a Game It's a Lifestyle"