Spanish Supreme Court Upholds Suit Against PokerStars

The Spanish Supreme Court has upheld a 2011 lawsuit against PokerStars charging unfair competition. The complaint was filed before PokerStars was officially licensed in the country. The Supreme Court held that PokerStars was not legally operating in Spain at the time.

The Spanish Supreme Court has upheld a 2011 lawsuit that charged that PokerStars illegally operated in the country at that time.

The court partially upheld the lawsuit filed by several Codere companies against PokerStars for unfair competition. The complaint was filed before PokerStars was given a license in Spain, with a Madrid court ruling in Codere’s favor in 2012. However, another court found that PokerStars was not operating illegally as it had sought authorization to operate, according to iGamingbuisness.com.

The Supreme Court ruled that online gambling, and specifically the poker game offered on the PokerStars’ website, “was not a legal activity in Spain.”

The ruling said that PokerStars’ Spanish-language website was intended for the Spanish public, but “lacked the authorization required for the activity of gambling and was not a service legally marketed in Spain.” However, the Supreme Court did not grant Codere the compensation for damages and prejudices that it requested, the report said.