The European football championship is over, but football fans and those who like to bet have been unable to place their money with any of the three companies that have an operating licence granted by the Basque Government for sports betting. Then in August, come the Olympic Games, the most important sporting event in the world, and it is very unlikely that they will be able to take bets even then. The licensees blamed the delay on the rigorous approval process that the Department of the Interior has been carrying out over several days. Kroljokoa and Ekasa are unanimous in their laments.

"We would have liked to have the gaming machines up and running before the summer, so that people were familiar with them during their holidays and to be able to offer a wide range of operations with the start of the new football season in September and October. But at this stage, if we receive the approvals after the summer and we can open at a few premises in the last quarter, we shall be satisfied.

"The Department of Gaming and Entertainment has been working on a technical testing protocol that is now virtually complete. Once drafted, it will be sent to each of the three betting companies. They must adapt everything to satisfy this protocol, and once having done so, inform the Department of Gaming and Entertainment so that they can carry out their inspection and give approval. The approval of the whole system - the central unit, terminals, software, etc.- "must always be very rigorous", to quote the Basque Government's Department of the Interior.

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