Spanish gambling regulator orders operators to join anti-match-fixing programme
Gambling operators’ staff will have access to a whistleblower portal to report suspicious betting.
Spain.- The national gambling regulator, DGOJ, has adopted the resolutions of Spain’s centralised directive against match-fixing. As a result, all operators with licences for horseracing or sports betting must join the Global Betting Market Investigation Service (SIGMA) and make its whistleblower portal available to staff.
DGOJ director general Mikel Arana says that a duty to use SIGMA will be added to the conditions of Spanish gambling licences, requiring all operators to “report irregular or suspicious sports bets immediately”. Operators must also “respond immediately to requests for any information deemed necessary in relation to the alerts entered into the service”.
Arana said: “With this resolution, the GGOJ takes a further step in its commitment to the fight against corruption linked to the manipulation of sports competitions and the often-resulting fraud in betting on such events.”
SIGMA was created under amendments to Spain’s 2011 Gambling Act passed in October 2022. The centrally controlled database provides a view of the betting market for vigilance against match-fixing and allows registered bodies to cooperate against match-fixing and fraud by processing personal data.
The programme has support from Spain’s Higher Sports Council, the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the Professional Football League, the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation and the Association of Spanish Footballers as well as from police. The objective is to create a ‘cooperative network against criminal activity and to protect the integrity of Spanish sports against potential match-fixing’.
In February, the DGOJ announced that the autonomous Basque region, Euskadi, in the Basque language, had joined the initiative. The General Administration of the Autonomous Community of Euskadi will be able to access the service.
