bwin.party digital entertainment expects to be among the first wave of those who are issued with a licence for the Spanish market ahead of it opening next year.

In its pre-close trading update yesterday, the group stated that its licence applications for Spain were submitted on November 25 and it is expected that approvals for its sports, casino, poker and bingo products will be issued ahead of the market opening in 2012.

bwin.party also expects to be among the first group of operators to become licensed to offer online poker, casino and sports in Denmark at the beginning of January after its licence applications were lodged on October 17.

In Germany, the next meeting of the Minister Presidents is due to take place tomorrow and bwin.party hopes that the other 15 German states will revise their proposal in a consistent and coherent manner in line with EU law, which also enables licensed operators to compete effectively with black market operators.

The group remains optimistic that US regulation will take a step forward in 2012. Through its agreements with MGM and Boyd, bwin.party believes it is well positioned to take advantage of any such opportunity.

The sale process of Ongame's B2B business is at an advanced stage, but although it has attracted a number of interested parties, the sale is unlikely to be finalised before the end of the year.