Andorra Set to Legalise Online and Offline Gambling

The legislative committee of Andorra has at last finished its draft of a bill intended to regulate online poker in the small mountain country, which is situated on the border between France and Spain. Discussion of the Andorra online poker bill began back in 2013, but now it appears that the bill will be ready for voting and will pass into law early in 2015.

At present, the approximate 85,000 population of Andorran residents are currently unable to access online gambling or land-based casinos. However, all is set to change, with Andorra to permit one external gambling operator to set up a land-based casino.

The expectation is that the millions of tourists who visit every year might help to generate tax revenue through gambling at a casino. Antoni Riberaygua, who holds the position of minister of the presidency, described the casino prospect as “potentially attractive to future visitors.” In discussing the overall bill, Riberaygua explained that the government taking great care to ensure that gambling in Andorra would have an overall positive social impact.

Licensing Insight

Meanwhile, the new bill will allow for Andorran residents to access an array of online gambling and poker sites once the law changes. Again, this is a change that has been made to try and increase tax revenues, a similar strategy that was implemented in recent years by the US states of Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey.

As for the bill itself, it has been revealed that games involving luck and skill, such as poker, will have to apple for a class D licence. Therefore, any leading online poker operators seeking to enter the market will have to apple for such a market before being permitted to share their experience with the people of Andorra. Foreign operators will not submit applications for online gambling licenses until early 2015.