Spain's CNMC Investigates Lotteries and Bets Over Potential Market Abuse
The investigation examines Loterías y Apuestas del Estado's restrictions on the sale of tax coverage insurance at mixed retail points.
The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) in Spain has initiated an investigation into Loterías y Apuestas del Estado for allegedly prohibiting mixed retail points, such as bars and kiosks, from selling Laguinda insurance.
This insurance product covers the 20% tax that winners must pay on lottery prizes.
Laguinda is a company that provides lottery insurance, ensuring that when a prize is won, the winner receives the full amount after taxes, provided they have purchased coverage through its app.
The CNMC highlights that the inability of mixed points to sell this product could represent a possible abuse of dominant market position in the public lottery sector.
The CNMC's statement notes that Loterías has exclusive sales points along with mixed points, where the primary business is not lottery sales, such as service stations and bars.
The regulator asserts that the behavior under investigation may have resulted in "exclusionary effects" within the burgeoning market for insurance products covering taxes on gambling winnings.
The opening of this investigation does not imply any presumption of guilt, as emphasized by the CNMC, which now enters a maximum investigative period of 24 months to reach a resolution.
This insurance product covers the 20% tax that winners must pay on lottery prizes.
Laguinda is a company that provides lottery insurance, ensuring that when a prize is won, the winner receives the full amount after taxes, provided they have purchased coverage through its app.
The CNMC highlights that the inability of mixed points to sell this product could represent a possible abuse of dominant market position in the public lottery sector.
The CNMC's statement notes that Loterías has exclusive sales points along with mixed points, where the primary business is not lottery sales, such as service stations and bars.
The regulator asserts that the behavior under investigation may have resulted in "exclusionary effects" within the burgeoning market for insurance products covering taxes on gambling winnings.
The opening of this investigation does not imply any presumption of guilt, as emphasized by the CNMC, which now enters a maximum investigative period of 24 months to reach a resolution.
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