Swedish online gambling operator, Kindred Group (KINDSDB:Stockholm) (previously Unibet Group), has decided to remove itself from Spain’s license application process, pledging instead to concentrate the company’s short-term resources on Sweden and the U.S.

While in December 2018 the Stockholm-listed firm applied for an online gambling license with the country’s Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), with the deadline to make the necessary platform changes to comply with Spain’s technical regulations looming, the company ended the process in June this year.

According to a report from EGR…

…the company, which consists of 11 brands and maintains its headquarters in Malta, said it will focus instead on the U.S. and meeting the country’s market demands, as well as in Sweden, where the struggle is real for operators attempting to comply with the Scandinavian nation’s strict new online gaming regulations.

New Jersey premiere:

Last summer, Kindred went live in the New Jersey market with its flagship brand Unibet and its full range of first-class casino products after securing from the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement a Casino Service Industry Enterprise License together with Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.

The news agency further reports that the company has, courtesy of Mohegan Sun Pocono, a market access partner in the Commonwealth. And late last month opened a Garden State office with a staff of around 13 with plans to increase that to 30 by 2020.

Will revisit process:

EGR lastly reports that it was told by a Kindred spokesperson…

“Kindred remains fully committed to the Group’s strategic objective of increasing its revenue from locally-licensed markets and looks forward to revisiting its Spanish licence application once the process opens again.

“Kindred currently does not have any revenue from the Spanish market but remains positive towards this important region and continues to operate a tech office in Madrid.”

Spanish licensing efforts:

Other leading operators including Casumo, GiG, SkillOnNet and Betfred have secured Spanish online gambling licenses from the most recent licensing round.

Self-exclusion with Gamnan:

Kindred, whose brands include such leading operators as 32Red, Vlad Cazino and Roxy Palace, recently announced that courtesy of its partnership with software company, Gamban, has integrated the provision of free blocking software into the self-exclusion process for its domain at Unibet.co.uk.