Spain bans seven online gambling operators over breaches
The Spanish gambling regulator banned seven operators and sanctioned 13 others in the last half of 2022.
Spain.- The Spanish gambling regulator, the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), has reported that it sanctioned 20 online operators for serious or very serious infractions in the second half of 2022. It issued more than €35.5m in fines and suspended the licences of seven operators.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs said that seven operators had committed “very serious” breaches. These were banned from offering online gambling in Spain for two years and were fined €5m each. Meanwhile, 13 operators were fined a combined €560,000 for “serious” infractions.
Nine of these were fined €10,000 each for infractions of advertising and marketing rules. The other four were fined between €125,000 and €160,000 for breaches of technical requirements or for allowing people who had self-excluded to gamble.
Spain’s gambling law was updated to distinguish between serious and very serious violations in July 2021. Since then, the DGOJ has penalised 92 operators and issued more than €181m in fines. some 19 operators were sanctioned in 2021 and 73 last year.
Spain approves new responsible gambling decree
Last month, Spain’s Council of Ministers approved a new royal decree on gambling, bringing 30 new responsible gaming measures into law. The Royal Decree of the Development of Safer Gaming Environments had been proposed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and follows last year’s decree that introduced new advertising restrictions.
The decree has a focus on young people aged between 18 and 25, which the ministry says are more vulnerable to inappropriate messages about gaming. However, it includes measures for all gamblers.
Measures include the definition of risk profiles based on consumer spending. A player will be considered an intensive gambler if they accumulate a net loss of €600 (€200 for those aged under 25) over three consecutive weeks. There will be a range of requirements for dealing with such players.
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