The transit from punishing to regulating of gaming in Spain

Abstract

For centuries and until relatively recently, specifically to the entry into force of Act 8/1983 of 25 June, which were introduced some reforms in the Criminal Code, the practice of certain games were punished Spain. It should be stressed that the discrepancies between supporters and detractors of maintaining or not the penalty of the game has been a constant in our country. The first believed that only the relentless weight of the criminal law would get away with this vice, which caused the ruin of countless families. The latter, however, appealed to the inefficiency that had always shown repressive laws and, therefore, argued that the best solution was to the regulations of the game and it ceased to be a proper subject of criminal law to be regulated exclusively by administrative rules. Between these two positions, our legislature has traditionally inclined by it, although on several occasions, unsuccessfully presented in Parliament on various bills proposing legalization, with the sterility of the criminal rules