Spanish Regulator DGOJ Appoints New General Director
Published January 5, 2017 by Ivan P
Juan Espinosa Garcia was appointed the new director of the DGOJ, the gambling regulatory agency in Spain in charge of drafting and overseeing relevant gaming laws.
Spanish Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), the gaming regulatory agency in the country, appointed Juan Espinosa Garcia the new general director. Mr. Garcia, who has been with the agency since 2013, will continue to oversee regulatory activities in Spain as the DGOJ keeps up the efforts to maintain a fair and sustainable gambling market.
Extensive Experience
Mr. Garcia has the necessary background and experience to take on this new role. Prior to 2013, he held a number of positions with Spain's Competition Authority, overseeing the regulation of public bodies and administrations.
With a law degree from the University of Granada as well as several postgraduate degrees, coupled with his hands-on experience in regulatory matters, Mr. Garcia has all the prerequisites for this very demanding role. Having helped prepare and create a number of various regulatory frameworks over the years, he will be able to understand all the intricacies connected to DGOJ tasks. Mr. Garcia also served as the DGOJ Deputy General Director since 2013, so he is no stranger to agency's day to day operations.
Spanish Gambling Regulation
Spain passed online gambling regulation back in 2012, leaving it to the DGOJ to monitor the implementation of laws and penalize those who break them. Despite the strict regulation, the online gambling market in the country has been on the rise recently, with numbers for the third quarter of 2016 showing a 22.2% year-on-year increase.
According to the DGOJ and other experts, this growth can mostly be attributed to the addition of online slots to Spain-facing casinos, which happened in the second quarter of 2015. Of the total amount of €28.4 million generated by online casino games, slots contributed €13.8 million.
While the popularity of casino games is clearly on the rise, sports betting remains a dominant leader in terms of revenue, contributing €56.8 million to the total of €103 million in gross gaming revenues. Online poker continued to decline, primarily because of the fenced market not allowing Spanish players to play against players from other countries.
