The Canarian authorities want to better protect children from slot machines. A decree law for the protection of children in the field of gambling and betting adopts a set of urgent and unpostponable measures to guarantee the protection of children in the field of gambling and betting activities in the Canary Islands through Decree Law 7/2024, of July 31.
The decree law allows for speeding up and correcting the situation generated by a court ruling that allows the installation of gaming halls within 300 meters of early childhood and primary education centers, once the moratorium in the gaming sector ends on December 31, 2023.
For the purposes set out above, centres for teaching and caring for minors are considered to be those which, in accordance with their sectorial legislation, are registered as such in the official registers of the corresponding sectorial Administration and whose potential users are between the ages of 6 and 17, both inclusive. An article is also added on the area of influence between amusement and gaming halls and bingo halls to avoid concentrations.
Specifically, the decree law states that the area of influence in which recreational and gaming halls may not be located, whether due to new installation or due to the transfer of those authorized, due to the previous existence of another recreational and gaming hall, will be the one included in a radius of action of 200 meters in a straight line, measured on a plan, from each of the access doors of the one in which it is intended to be installed.
This distance will not be applicable in the case of arcades and games rooms without direct access to the public road in shopping centres, although, for those that are intended to be installed on the same floor of said shopping centres, the distance to be applied will be 75 metres. A measure of 200 metres with the same characteristics is also established as the zone of influence between an arcade and game room and a bingo hall.
