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　　译文：

　　WILLIAM HILL CALLS FOR ACTION AGAINST UNLICENSED SPANISH CASINOS

　　William Hill calls for action against online casino sites operating without a license in Spain. The operator believes that unlicensed operators reduce the revenues generated by legitimate online casinos, which in the end also results in less tax cashed in by the state.

　　William Hill's country manager for Spain Miguel Valdés gave a statement requesting Spanish authorities to take action against online casino sites operating in the country without a valid license. Valdés pointed out that despite the fact that the Ministry of Finance requested unlicensed operators to leave the market, many have refused to comply and are still active in the country.

　　Valdés said that illegal online casino operators represent a harm to "consumers and operators which are complying with all the rules and paying taxes." However he acknowledges that it's difficult for authorities to fight this phenomenon since such operators are established in offshore jurisdictions.

　　In the opinion of Valdés, an effective way of fighting against unlicensed operators would be to finally regulate online slots as well. At this moment licensed Spanish online casinos are not able to offer real money online slot games. This forces a lot of players to visit unlicensed online casinos instead since those casinos aren't subjected to the country's regulations.

　　Spain implemented a new online gambling regulatory framework in June 2012. After the regulation of most online gambling activities, the Spanish online gambling market experienced a huge growth. Despite very high taxes, most Spanish-licensed online gaming sites managed to cash in substantial profits during the second half of 2012.

　　During this time the Spanish online gaming regulatory authority multiple times requested unlicensed operators to leave the market. Some operators that were interested in applying for a license at some point in the future have complied, may others however decided to stay.

　　This in turn negatively influences the revenues generated by legitimate online casino sites such as William Hill that decided to apply for a license and pay the heavy taxes imposed by the new Spanish online gambling legislation.

　　Experts believe that once online slots will be regulated as well, players would have no reasons anymore to register at unlicensed gaming websites. As such, legitimate companies like William Hill would be able to generate more revenues, resulting in the state cashing in more tax income as well.