The Casino Gran Madrid online poker room officially closed Friday, July 31. With the closure, only five rooms remain on Spain’s regulated iPoker network: Betfair, PremierPoker, Sportium, Bet365 and TitanBet.
According to multiple media reports, the operation closed for lack of active players. PokerStars and 888 Holdings control 90 percent of the market; Casino Gran Madrid told its customers via e-mail that it would return when and if it could develop “a more appealing” product.
Though the online poker room is closed, the online casino “remains healthy and open to traffic,” reported the website Pokerupdate.com. Customers may use any cash balances to play online casino games; otherwise, they have until August 31 to withdraw their funds and exchange their VIP points for cash.
The website also reported that a recent government study by Spain’s Codere Foundation and the Institute of Policy and Governance of the Charles III University in Madrid found that 43 percent of Spanish online gamblers play on illegal sites, though almost 28 percent do not realize the sites are illegal.
