Last week, a surprising leadership change removed Juan Espinosa as Spain’s top gaming regulator, and replaced him with Mikel Arana.
According to SBC News, Arana was appointed director-general of the DGOJ, an appointment that was made public when it was published in the May 5 Ministerial Gazette.
Espinosa has held the position for three years, and spent a total of eight years with the DGOJ. Arana is a former MP for the Basque autonomous community and most recently served as regional leader of Izquierda Unida (United Left), Spain’s socialist coalition for the Basques.
Arana’s appointment was reported personally ordered by Alberto Garzon, Spain’s Minister of Consumer Affairs, who himself is on order from the PSOE-Podemos coalition government to overhaul federal gaming laws.
So far this year, the PSOE-Podemos government has approved Spain’s cracked down on the advertising of gambling. According to SBC, this move “angered market incumbents,” and attached the decree to emergency Covid-19 legislation in which Spanish bookmakers got no grace period to fulfil existing contracts.
Garzon has formally warned DGOJ licensees that this is just the “first phase” of the coalition government’s comprehensive reform of Spanish gambling. The country’s Consumer Affairs Department is reportedly considering a federal registry that would monitor all gambling consumer transactions.
