DGOJ believes Spanish gambling decree will be signed off this month

The director general of the Spanish regulator has provided guidance on the decree.

Spain.- The Spanish gambling regulator, the DGOJ, has held its last plenary sessions providing details on the country’s new Royal Decree on Safer Gambling Environments to the Responsible Gambling Advisory Council.

DGOJ director general Mikel Arana said the decree was ready to receive technical endorsement in order to reach the Council of Ministers for the final sign-off by the end of the month. The decree aims to provide an enhanced framework of consumer protections across all of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities.

The autonomous governments have agreed on responsible gambling measures aimed at reducing problematic or pathological gambling behaviours in vulnerable consumers. A new central self-exclusion register will be launched to cover the entire country, replacing the current fragmented systems.

Meanwhile, the changes will require gambling licensees to categorise gamblers and to “apply specific measures for groups considered more vulnerable, such as young gamblers, those with intensive gambling behaviour or risky behaviour, or self-excluded participants”.

The decree is the second in a series of reforms that have been pushed through by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. In 2021, a royal decree on advertising banned gambling sponsorship in sport and limited television and radio advertising to a small late-night window between 1am and 5am.

The DGOJ reported that Spanish gross gambling revenue (GGR) hit €240.83m in Q3 2022. That’s a rise of 31.29 per cent year-on-year and 18.08 per cent quarterly.

Player deposits and withdrawals rose by 26.72 per cent and 24.85 per cent year-on-year and varied by +4.60 per cent and -8.70 per cent quarterly. Marketing spending increased by 7.79 per cent compared to the previous quarter and new accounts decreased by 4.01 per cent.

The €240.83m of GGR was distributed as follows: €89.04m in betting (36.97 per cent); €3.68m in bingo (1.53 per cent); €127.95m in casino (53.13 per cent), €0.03m in contests (0.01 per cent) and €20.14m in poker (8.36%).