Spain has taken another step towards introducing additional safer gambling measures after the industry’s regulator in the country, Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego, launched its second public consultation on the desired reforms outlined by the Royal Decree on Responsible Gaming Environments.
To remain open until October 16, the second consultation is asking for feedback from gambling stakeholders on the application of gaming deposit limits and other in-play features to safeguard customers.
The first round of consultations took place earlier this summer as the DGOJ sought information on data rights and consumer protections needed to launch a centralised monitoring system.
Endorsed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, these consultations are part of the “Royal Decree on Safer Gambling Environments” approved in March by the Spanish Parliament to set new compliance measures and safer gambling protections across Spain’s 17 autonomous communities – establishing “a system of joint deposit limits per player”.
The new deposit limit system proposed, the DGOJ stated, will be applicable to all online operators as part of the new centralised monitoring system to track player activity across licensed operators.
The DGOJ said in a statement: “The main objective of the project is the introduction of a deposit limit system, which is complementary and independent of the currently existing model, applicable to all participants in online gambling activities, by which the set of deposits made by a participant in each of the operators with which he has an open account are taken into account, in such a way that this participant cannot exceed the established deposit limit in a certain period of time.
“This measure sets up an additional and complementary tool that facilitates the self-control of the deposits made by the participants, and, therefore, represents an improvement in the protection of the player in line with the measures in terms of safe gambling adopted in recent years.”
The Spanish government is planning on implementing the new player monitoring system by next year, which would require licensed operators to record and report ‘risk profiles’ on customers under the age of 25.
While the focus is on safer gambling measures, Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs has plans to reform most aspects of the country’s gambling regulations including licensing, authorisations, conduct duties and the introduction of in-play safeguards for high-risk games.
