Spain’s Congress of Deputies has approved for MPs to vote on a set of new measures to be applied to ‘The Gambling Law’ that will strengthen the “state’s control on monitoring betting fraud to help tackle sports corruption”. 

The Congress that serves as Parliament’s ‘legislative review branch’ voted unanimously in favour (343 votes / 0 against) of approving amendments that will reorganise the integrity duties of Spain’s Gambling Law.

The headline measure will see the DGOJ – Spain’s National Gambling Regulator, become the ‘central control’ for collecting relevant operator/business data related to sports betting integrity disciplines. 

Amendments will require licensed operators to form a ‘data exchange’ with the DGOJ, in which incumbents must present data on market movements, wagering discrepancies and potential fraud concerns.

Of significance, the DGOJ will form a new interactive cooperation network in partnership with Consejo Superior del Deporte (CSD) – the Higher Sports Council that represents the interests of Spain professional sports leagues and Federations.  

Last summer, the DGOJ began to work with the CSD, as parties promised to establish a new framework for Spanish pro-sports, local authorities and businesses (including gambling) to cooperate on sports corruption.  

The desired outcome is for the DGOJ to operate a ‘central exchange’, from relevant parties to share information with the regulator “to prevent, detect, investigate and process infractions” that will be shared with police authorities. 

Amendments state that in order to serve as a central resource of betting fraud exchanges, the DGOJ “must guarantee data confidentiality” of its assigned duties.