Seguramente muchos, si no todos, hemos vivido esta experiencia en algún concierto (o en todos). Ciertos individuos carentes de educación y respeto por el prójimo, a veces aderezado con un consumo desmedido de alcohol, se dedican a empujar, molestar e incluso golpear a la gente de alrededor; a veces con la intención de llegar a la primera fila y otras simplemente porque sí, porque esa es su forma de disfrutar del evento… (aquí ya cada uno puede valorarlo como desee).

A Steady Path to Liberalisation

Despite a generally liberal attitude to gambling, the online scene has taken a long time to reach this point in Spain, and there are still some restrictions on internet poker.

Although land-based casinos had been legalized since 1977, it wasn’t until much later that the industry really boomed. In 2008 the government split the country into 17 separate regions which were allowed to grant their own gaming licenses as they saw fit. This led to rapid growth and the country now houses over 40 casinos.

Online sports betting had already been made legal by the government in 2006, but it wasn’t until 2010 that the 17 gaming authorities met with the National Gaming Board to begin discussions on the regulation of online gambling. A new law was passed in May 2011, which allowed the development of all online gaming with the exception of games exclusive to the National Lottery and Blind National Lottery, Bingo, and live in-play betting (including slot machines). Individual licences must be obtained for every game type that operators wish to offer, and licences are only granted to companies that house their servers in Spain and operate from .es websites.

The Gambling Act also covered advertising, promotion and sponsorship, making it illegal to advertise, endorse or promote betting activities and websites of operators who do not hold the appropriate licenses. The Act also enables Spanish authorities to impose large fines on operators that try to provide services to Spanish players. Unlike countries such as France and Portugal who tried to pass similar legislation, Spain has been relatively successful with more than 50 sites withdrawing their services voluntarily, and legal proceedings pursued against operators who attempted to continue.

Tough Hand for Poker Players in Online Casinos

Poker is one area where legislation is behind the rest of the sector. Poker games are currently ring-fenced in the country in much the same way as France and Italy. Essentially, this means that poker players can only play against other players in Spain, and can’t take part in larger, international tournaments.

This policy has stifled the growth of the poker industry in Spain, and a recent report showed that close to half of all poker players still play on ‘illegal’ sites. 43% of players admitted to playing at unlicensed sites, while 12.8% said that they never used Spanish websites to play poker.

The latest figures show that revenue from the internet poker market in the first quarter of 2015 fell by 5% to €16.8m. That’s in comparison to the total online market which grew by 14% to €77.4m, with the best performing sectors, sports betting which grew by 20% to €45.5m, and table gaming revenue which grew by 38% to €12.2m.

While the government continues to ring-fence games and charge high tax rates on rakes, players will continue to take their chips elsewhere.

Slots Finally Launched

There is no such restriction on the slots market, and with so many big international operators ready to step into the arena, Spanish players will be spoilt for choice. Slots have been the major area of growth in the gaming sector across the majority of Europe. The Spanish government is hoping that this change will boost the industry in the same way that it did for the Italian market – the latest figures revealed that slots accounted for 20% of Italian gaming revenue in 2014.

That’s of little importance to the average slots player though, and most will surely just be looking forward to more freedom of choice and a competitive marketplace. The large operators already offering services in the country will quickly add slots, and the 10 new licensees will be ready to go within months. There is likely to be a great deal of competition as operators vie for new customers, and it is an environment which players can take advantage of in terms of sign-up bonuses, welcome promotions and free bets.

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Como todo fan de Pearl Jam sabe, y difícilmente podrá olvidar, los fatídicos sucesos de Roskilde en el año 2000 marcaron terriblemente a la banda; y prueba de ello es el aumento en medidas de seguridad que exigen desde entonces para protegernos de posibles tragedias.

Los que hemos estado en conciertos de la banda, hemos vivido situaciones similares a la ocurrida esta semana. Eddie Vedder observa desde el escenario que la multitud se agolpa contra la valla y solicita que todos demos unos pasos atrás para liberar la presión de las primeras filas. O bien avisa a su jefe de seguridad de que en cierta zona del público está pasando algo desagradable con algunos asistentes, para que puedan intervenir. O da la alarma de que una persona se está desvaneciendo y necesita ayuda.

Veamos ahora los acontecimientos que tuvieron lugar en el concierto del día 22 de Agosto en el Wrigley Field de Chicago.
Uno de esos individuos de los que hablamos al principio, va abriéndose camino hasta las primeras filas, empujando y molestando a la gente en su camino. Una vez alcanzada la cercanía al escenario, se pone agresivo con las personas que le rodean. Los asistentes de la zona se quejan y Eddie Vedder decide dejar de cantar y llamar la atención a ese indeseable para que el personal de seguridad le saque del concierto.

Que una mujer (o varias) se haya visto envuelta en este desagradable altercado no lo convierte en un caso de maltrato machista. La violencia de género es algo terrible y todos debemos luchar contra él en nuestro día a día, pero nos parece que algunos medios de comunicación se han lanzado a publicar una noticia sensacionalista sobre un tema tan serio y delicado como este.

¿Falta de contraste de información? ¿Ausencia de noticias en la época estival?

Os dejamos un recopilatorio de titulares de importantes medios de España y el vídeo en el que imaginamos se han basado para elaborar dichas noticias.