Draft Royal Decree on Responsible Gambling
On January 18, the public consultation that was opened in December 2020 to improve Article 8 and provision 6a of Law 13/2011 on the Regulation of Online Gambling concluded. The executive seeks to draw up a new Royal Decree to create safer online gambling environments with a state character, which includes investing budget items of taxes collected from online gambling in sports.
Consumer continues to be concerned about the increase in gambling in New Zealand. With this draft Royal Decree, Garzón intends to develop those aspects not regulated by Law 13/2011. @Wokandapix/Pixabay
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs was saying goodbye to 2020 with the approval of the Royal Decree on the commercial activities of online gambling , one of the largest regulations within the online gambling sector in our country since the entry into force of Law 13/2011.
It does not seem that the legislative reforms go to stop in 2021: the ministry has advanced several of those that are legislative priorities for the Ministry of Garzon.
A better defined regulatory framework to combat gambling addiction
In the document of the previous consultation , published on December 16, 2020, the ministry stressed the "the need to establish a uniform regulatory framework of general application that seeks to guarantee an optimal level of protection” in view of the increased compulsive gambling patterns among the Spanish society.
This public consultation aims to gather opinions on the development of the article 8 of Law 13/2011 on the regulation of gambling and provision 6a on responsible gambling policies. So far, the ministry has not delved into the formulas it has in mind to promote responsible online gambling. The only thing that has been communicated so far are the objectives that would have the potential Royal Decree about responsible gambling:
- Reinforce the operators' knowledge of their player base from the perspective of safe or responsible gambling.
- Strengthen the general information obligations to the participants in the games.
- Reinforce the existing measures of responsible or safe gambling, with special attention to players who present risky behaviors, combining preventive, awareness-raising, intervention and control actions, as well as repair of the negative effects produced.
- Develop the sixth additional provision of Law 13/2011 on the collection of Sports and Equestrian Bets.
Since 2011, the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) has been introducing different amendments to encourage responsible gambling among players. Currently, companies wishing to enter the Spanish market must stick to the new responsible gaming policies in order to obtain general licenses allow them to operate legally.
Self-excluded increase in 2020
On January 17, the government announced that 6,000 people asked for self-exclusion in 2020 . In total, the General Registry of Interdictions of Access to Gambling (RGIAJ) has registered 56,329 people, 12.02% more than in 2019 .
The community that registers a greater number of new excluded is Balearic Islands with an increase of 56.9% with respect to the previous year. It is followed by Castilla-La Mancha, with 23.56% and Murcia, with 23%. Andalusia is the community with the largest number of people registered in the RGIAJ (24.52%), followed by the Community of Madrid (17.03%) and Aragon (9.32%).
Taxes that will end up in sports
It is not yet clear what they would be intended for those budget items from the taxes collected by the online game. So far, this total is included in the general State budgets and then distributed among the different Autonomous Communities.
Mikel Arana, director of the DGOJ, declared in an interview given to the EFE agency that, in principle, the word sport in the public consultation it does not refer to professional sports of the first or second division , but rather to those lower categories that do not have sponsorships.
On February 21, Consumo announced its first measure as an independent ministry: the draft draft Royal Decree on online gambling advertising . Will Garzón surprise us on his anniversary as minister with a new draft? In minkcafe.co we will continue to report.
