One of the flags of the current Govern is its fight against addictions and play. Vice President Yllanes, in charge of the matter, has stated on several occasions that every effort will be made to curb attempts to make the Balearic Islands a “Las Vegas low cost”.
In recent years, we have witnessed the uncontrolled proliferation of gambling and betting venues, an avalanche of indiscriminate advertising in any medium and medium, and the all-worth in the online. On football pitches, online betting has replaced the historical emblems of football teams.
Moreover, at such a speed that the current Gambling Act, albeit with the best intention, was late and it was applied in spurts.
At the helm of the Yllanes Game has placed Miquel Piñol, a “hard” of negotiation that so we read in press and nets is weaving a containment spider web in front of a sector that, let’s not forget, is led by brands like Cirsa or Codere, further backed by the Blackstone investment megafund.
In short: the worst adversary in a duel dominated by few scruples and a lot of money.
In this newspaper, Yllanes pledged to reduce the supply of the game significantly with a plan that, for the time being, we do not know, but which we already know has alerted the entire sector at the state level because now the “Balearic model” of the fight against addictions and gambling is the piece to beat (or, in the jargon of the sector, the jackpot).
At the moment there is already a moratorium underway and it seems that there is also a strategy designed with some intelligence (which, in the times that run, is not little). And while this is not the right time to talk about reducing or decreasing a sector, many citizens think this is a courageous measure of the Govern that has broad social support.
Now that it seems that Minister Alberto Garzón, who also came strongly into the subject, has deflated by giving in to the sports betting and LaLiga lobby, we have the Yllanes-Piñol tandem left to see if this is another posture and salon policy or whether Blackstone and other monsters in the game will be standing up to him.
There’ll be more. Place your bets.
