No legal basis for Spanish injunction, claims Sportingbet

Sportingbet will file an appeal against an injunction issued by a Madrid court against the company’s Spanish facing sites which comes into effect today, having received advice that there is no legal basis for the action.

Last December, Codere sought a number of injunctions against companies operating in the Spanish online betting and gaming industry, including Sportingbet. Codere claims that overseas operators have gained an unfair competitive advantage by operating in Spain without a licence, while Codere has been subject to local regulation and taxation.

Sportingbet says however that Codere’s actions are part of a campaign to “restrict the online industry prior to the granting of licences under new Spanish legislation.”

In a statement released this afternoon, Sportingbet said that it was not notified of the application against it and was given no opportunity to defend itself.

All of Codere's applications were rejected by various Spanish courts, with the exception of one made against Sportingbet in the Commercial Court in Madrid, where the court found against Sportingbet and issued an injunction against the company’s Spanish facing sites Miapuesta.es and Miapuesta.com.

Sportingbet subsequently attended a hearing at the court in Madrid on February 16th at which it defended its legally compliant position. Despite this, the court granted the injunction stating that “any offering of gaming or betting activity that has not been granted a prior administrative authorisation is, indisputably, prohibited”.

“Sportingbet firmly believes that Codere's injunction application was based on erroneous information presented to the Court and is a blatant attempt to disrupt the market in the run up to the issue of licences,” said Sportingbet in a statement Tuesday.

Sportingbet is filing an appeal against Codere's claim having received advice that there is no legal basis for the action. The company says that this is supported by the decisions of other Spanish courts to reject Codere's applications for injunctions against other companies in the Spanish online gaming sector such as bwin and PokerStars.

The injunction comes into effect today, March 27th, although Miapuesta.es has already been closed down until the Spanish licensing process has been completed, while Miapuesta.com is still live at the time of going to press.

Sportingbet confirmed that it has applied for a licence under the 2011 Spanish Gambling Laws, and following regular meetings with the Spanish regulators, expects to be granted its licence on or before May 25th.

Shares in Sportingbet plc (Co. Data) (LSE:SBT) have dropped 2.56 per cent to 38.00 pence per share in London today, after the company announced earlier today that it has completed payment to the U.S Department of Justice in accordance with the terms of its non-prosecution agreement.