EXCLUSIVE IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW with JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ FUENTES about the current situation
 

One of our most charismatic leaders analyses the present moment. José González Fuentes points out that we’re going through “an unusual situation” although not only the gaming "but commerce and leisure in general". Furthermore, for LUCKIA’S president it occurs at the most critical moment: “It comes at a time preceded by a media campaign against the sector. Thus, the current situation is further aggravated. Let's say it becomes the tip".

President González Fuentes continues: “In almost all the business areas of the sector, with the exception of Bingo and casino tables, there is a fixed tax rate. For this reason, all the united sector must make the Administration see the seriousness of the situation where the majority of operators are small or medium-sized entrepreneurs and the need to forgive these fixed taxes and postpone taxes." "If most of the companies were already short, now the situation is extreme", he adds. "They are very heavy taxes. To give just one example, each casino table must pay annually, for the mere fact of having the license, the amount of 60,000 euros”.

About the measures that some Autonomous Communities are announcing, he tells us: "Some measures are reasonably good for an activity as important to the economy as ours, that supports many direct and indirect jobs." "But these measures must be unified. That’s why I would ask them, more than ever, for a homogenization at this time that allows the sustainability of companies", he adds.

Regarding the position of the industry, José González Fuentes asks for more unity: “We are risking the sustainability of the sector and we must put aside other interests and fight for what unites us. There must be equal measures in all the Autonomous Communities, which include that the Administrations do not require fixed taxes and the deferral of taxes", he explains.

Thinking about the immediate future, when the state of alarm passes, José González Fuentes says: “The sector is going to have a hard time recovering because leisure and entertainment activity is the one that will suffer the most in the short term. In addition, Spain and Italy are the most affected and will suffer as a tourist destination, one of the engines of our economy”.

Therefore, we have two problems: “On the one hand, the client will have less money available to spend, more contraction in his consumption and the behaviors and social habits of our clients will have changed; this will lead us to not be able to recover even 30% of the income that we previously had. It’s going to start very slowly”. That is why "we must prepare to face the return with less income," concludes José González Fuentes.

However, the president of LUCKIA also calls for optimism. "The sector has gone through very bad times: the Mendioroz stage, 'el Rosonazo', the rate hike twice, the 2008 crisis, the anti-smoking law ... we have overcome these crises and we’ll also pass this one, although it will take approximately six months to return to previous figures”.

For this reason, he calls for measures that go beyond this stage of health alert and are accompanied by specific decisions similar to those undertaken by the Community of Valencia or Andalusia accompanied by one more: "In addition to the reduction or bonus rates accrued during the second quarter, it would be opportune the exemption from the payment of fees and the tax deferral”.

Along with this, we must study in detail the financial aid that the Government of the nation and the different Autonomous Communities will continue to approve for the reactivation of the economy, in which all businessmen, as the engine of job creation, will play an essential role along the way of recovery from this unexpected crisis.