A Spanish court in Barcelona has ruled in favor of PokerStars in a case brought by Spanish land-based gaming giant Codere that alleged PokerStars operated illegally in Spain prior to regulation.
Codere has brought cases against various online firms claiming that sites operated illegally prior to June 2012 when Spain regulated online gaming and issued licenses to over 50 online gaming operators.
However, a court ruling in Barcelona this week “agreed with PokerStars’ position that it operated lawfully in the country,” according to a PokerStars press release issued today, “because the lack of regulation meant that there was no relevant law preventing such activity.”
Similar pending cases have been brought again SportingBet and Betfair, among others. Codere won an injuction against SportingBet’s Miapuesta brand in March, forcing the site offline, although it came back online in June when it settled its tax debt and launched under DGOJ license. However, injunctions against other sites, including PokerStars, were rejected.
Codere was issued an online gaming license in June, but did not launch its online poker room until September. It exists on the Boss Media/GTECH G2 network in Spain—ironically, alongside MiApuesta—but the network has so far failed to gain much traction.
PokerStars, on the other hand, dominates online poker in Spain, representing 65% of the online market and seeing continued growth since launch.
