The gambling industry is a sensitive sector whose regularization has always been at the forefront of all debates. Not without reason, while gambling can be a good source of recreation and entertainment, it can also generate deeper problems such as gambling.
While often viewed as recreational activities for specific demographic groups, our society as a whole is no stranger to gambling. Slot machines, bingo nights or the Christmas lottery are part of our popular imagination. For this reason, to avoid incorrect behavior, there is a Directorate General for the regulation of gambling (DGOJ) under the responsibility of the Ministry of Consumers.
Spain's history with gambling goes a long way. Cervantes has already written about proto-blackjack in one of his picaresque novels. However, although some regulations began to emerge in the XNUMXth century, it was only in the XNUMXth century that specific laws were created to regulate this activity.
In the 20s of the last century, the construction of large casinos proliferated, nerve centers of the most exclusive entertainment. For this reason, in fact, it is quite common to find remarkable modernist and eclectic buildings in the most central areas of the provincial capitals and important urban centers. Some are still casinos, others have been transformed into hotels, shopping centers and other establishments, but they are still a legacy of the bourgeois reality of the early twentieth century.
Then came the Franco regime, which, continuing the legacy of Primo de Rivera, adopted a prohibitionist attitude towards gambling that generated a criminal underworld of gambling clubs and clandestine clubs without any kind of control. Until democracy was consolidated, and with it the opening to an industry that has spent 40 years under the underground.
The legislation that came with democracy was modern, but not modern enough to keep up with one of the most pioneering and adaptive markets out there. In the 2000s, the written standard did not cover many of the habits and customs of gambling operators and users. The technological boom and the transition to a connected and globalized society forced the government to pass the law currently in force, that of 2011, which, as a main novelty, contained guidelines for regulating online gambling.
And the fact is, the internet has completely changed the gambling paradigm. Previously, with an activity limited to certain specialized establishments, it was much easier to control basic aspects for monitoring such as the prohibition of entry to minors and gamblers, as well as the control that all games were carried out with guarantees and without fraud.
Now the neighborhoods are filled with small arcades, but not only that, but anyone can access an online casino both from home and from anywhere thanks to their mobile phone.
This new landscape forces us to adopt new precautionary, regulatory and awareness-raising measures. It is important to access properly regulated websites and applications with guarantees and a safe and responsible gaming seal. Like Betsson's video bingo, which has the approval of the DGOJ.
Despite the 2011 regulation and the efforts of the Ministry of Consumers to prosecute unauthorized gambling operators, it is possible to come across online casinos of dubious origin, especially through third-party applications. Therefore, in recent years, iOS has become the operating system of choice for secure access to gambling services.
We all know that Apple takes its closed system very seriously, even within its own environments. We recently learned that you have blocked unofficial iOS applications from running on MacOS because you want the developer to decide whether to enable and optimize that feature.
This philosophy is what has led the vast majority of legal gaming operators to upload their applications as a priority to the App Store. In fact, although Google Play, for reasons of flexibility and less filtering, has a wider catalog of casino applications, the truth is that the main companies in the sector develop their applications for iOS and then bring them to Android months later.
Something to keep in mind, especially when we consider that Apple's safe and responsible gaming regulations are much stricter than those imposed by Android. It's not the first time those in Cupertino have updated their terms of use on this industry and they've already proven their pulse won't shake when it comes to mass screening for any application that doesn't meet their requirements.
Unsurprisingly, then, iOS is increasingly establishing itself as the platform of choice for consumers of various online games. It remains to be found whether this situation will last over time or if, on the contrary, Google will also begin to do something about it.
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