More money for gambling regulation and surveillance
On October 7, the Spanish government approved the draft General Budgets for 2022 with a 3.8 percent budget increase that is distributed among all portfolios. The Ministry of Consumption is benefiting from a 20.36 percent increase that will designate, among other programs, to strengthen the regulation and surveillance of gambling, one of the great workhorses of Minister Alberto Garzón.
The Ministry of Consumption increases its budget item and will have more money to strengthen the mechanisms of surveillance, control and sanction on the online gambling market. ©Derli_lopez/Pixabay
The draft Law on the General Budgets for 2022 that will be delivered during this week to the Congress of Deputies for processing, contemplates a increase in budget items of 27,633 million euros of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan with which European funds intended for social and economic recovery after the crisis caused by COVID-19 are channeled.
In general terms, the state budgets for 2022 they present a increased social spending, almost 60% of budgets without taking into account the European funds; the item destined to pensions is increased by almost 5% reaching 171,165 million euros and the salary increase of public employees is also contemplated.
In addition, tax collection is forecast to improve by 10.8% in line with the growth of the Spanish economy, which is expected to reach 7% next year. However, the ministers reiterated their commitment to budgetary stability . The Minister of Finance María Jesús Montero he has qualified the aforementioned European funds as “a unique opportunity that New Zealand cannot miss” .
The game Garzón's priority at the Consumer front
With a message on the social network Twitter, the Ministry of Consumption congratulated the budget item that increases by 20.36% reaching 57.18 million euros for the various programs contemplated in the ministry, the main ones being: food security and nutrition (32%), protection of consumer rights (26%) and gambling regulation (20%).
In the brief press release published on the online portal of the Ministry of Consumption, the main lines of the budget distribution are not specified in detail. However, it is pointed out the increased spending on strengthening online gambling inspection mechanisms , as well as in the fight against gambling addiction, the particular workhorse of Minister Garzón.
“The competition experiencing the largest increase in the budget is that of online gambling regulation, with 66.08% compared to 2021. If investments from European recovery funds are added to this growth, the increase in investments for the surveillance and control of the gambling and betting market amounts to 110.11%. The main items benefited are related to the new regulations that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs is developing and that strengthen the surveillance, control and sanction capacity on the online betting and gambling market. In addition, investments in campaigns for the prevention of gambling addiction will amount to up to 1.5 million euros.” – Ministry of Consumer Affairs , press release
It would be necessary to specify the specific framework of application of any of these items, but everything seems to indicate that the Royal Decree on Responsible Gambling it will become a key piece of legislation in the strategy prevention and control of pathological gambling behavior , contemplating a possible ban or limitation of payment methods that may lead to indebtedness of the punters.
In addition, the ministry's note also highlights the planned unification by 2022 of the registers of self-prohibited persons that today the DGOJ for online gambling and the Autonomous Communities independently manage in their areas of competence. The coordination between the central government and the autonomies it's already underway .
EGBA's Maarten Haijer is committed to greater operator engagement
During the Conference on Sustainable Gaming (SGC 2021) organized by the Kindred Group (Unibet, 32Red) and which had as its main motto safer play, shared responsibility , the secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) Maarten Haijer called for greater commitment on the part of operators with regard to their social responsibilities .
Haijer placed the emphasis on the development of a more sustainable gaming sector for which the reduction of problem gambling is a priority. Beyond the good words, Haijer stressed the need for reduce harm and increase monitoring and analysis of customer behavior , for which he appealed to the joint work between operators, regulators and the scientific community.
Online gambling increases and with it problem gambling
It is no news that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in online gambling and betting has been observed around the world. The negative side of such an increase it is the aggravation of problem gambling patterns. Alberto Garzón at the head of the Ministry of Consumption has referred to this on numerous occasions.
Not only in Europe, which, to this day, is still the great online gambling and betting market with a global share of 53%. Other regions of the world are facing similar problems. A recent report from the British broadcaster BBC it echoed the problems Australia was facing with growing gambling addiction. The losses for the game would have reached 18,000 million dollars in a year . Sources from the Alliance for Gambling Reform would have pointed out that Australia is the country with the most slots per capita in the world.
