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Geographical Distribution of Betting Shops and Their Proximity to Schools: (Non-)Compliance with Regulations in the City of Madrid

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Abstract

The proliferation of betting shops in Spanish cities is causing a heated social debate in response to the undesirable impacts that businesses of this kind can have. As a result, associations and social movements have emerged to try to stem their expansion and, at the same time, regulations have been introduced to prevent the uncontrolled opening of this type of premises. The limitations set out in the legislation include minimum distances between betting shops and schools. In order to understand the spatial dimension of this phenomenon and to find out the extent to which these businesses comply with the regulations in force, in this paper, we study the distribution of betting shops in the city of Madrid and their proximity to each other and to schools. The results reveal certain areas of the city with a high density of betting shops and with schools with high exposure to these businesses. Likewise, results show the significant number of businesses that would have to close (81%; n = 416) if the current moratorium on betting shops that opened their doors before the current legislation came into force did not exist.

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Fig. 1

(Source: Census of commercial premises and their activity, Madrid Spatial Data Infrastructure)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Alcala, Calle Colegios 2, Alcalá de Henares, 28801, Spain

    Sandra Arias Rodríguez & Francisco Escobar

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  1. Sandra Arias Rodríguez
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  2. Francisco Escobar
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Correspondence to Francisco Escobar.

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Both authors have read the manuscript carefully and fully approve its contents. The manuscript is original and has not been submitted to any other journal. Both authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Arias Rodríguez, S., Escobar, F. Geographical Distribution of Betting Shops and Their Proximity to Schools: (Non-)Compliance with Regulations in the City of Madrid. J Gambl Stud 41, 105–117 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-024-10330-6

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