SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Spain’s DGOJ has signed a new ‘collaborative accord’ which aims to establish a ‘new technical body’ charged with harmonising Spain’s federal gambling laws, standards and market controls.
The regulatory agency for Spanish gambling will work with ‘UNE’ – the ‘standardisation body’ formed by the Ministry of the Economy to comply with EU competition standards across Spain’s 17 autonomous regions.
The partnership will form a new agency charged with executing ‘standardised actions in the field of online gambling’ aimed at improving how Spain’s regulated marketplace functions and how its licensed incumbents are governed.
UNE will spearhead how the body forms its frameworks with regards to the monitoring of unified standards, gathering feedback from autonomous regions and the ‘accreditation of experts’ in relation to technical concerns.
The partnership has been approved by Spain’s, as the lead regulatory department which oversees Spanish gambling laws and the market controls of the DGOJ.
The Consumer Affairs Ministry stated that the DGOJ required deeper resources to ensure the effective monitoring of technical standards required for games of chance and operating systems functioning within Spain’s regulated marketplace.
Furthermore, the department stated that the harmonisation of standards would benefit Spain’s public administrations, health services and consumers as stakeholders entwined in the make-up of Spain’s gambling laws.
Once established, the new technical body will represent Spain at EU-level meetings with regards to how the member state is developing its new online gambling laws and standards.
2021 sees Spanish gambling incumbents await the publishing of the government’s ‘stage 2’ of federal gambling reforms led by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.
Desired objectives sought by the ministry include the creation of a federal self-exclusion scheme, an online gambling player registry and standardised land-based gambling venue laws across all autonomous communities.
