Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda noted that the country has sanctioned 15 online gambling operators in H1 2024. As a result, authorities have issued fines totaling EUR 65.3 million ($69 million) to violators.
DGOJ Penalized 15 Operators
The ministry clarified that of the 15 penalties issued by the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), Spain’s gambling regulator, 13 were for severe infringements. In some cases, operators have been suspended for a period of two years, in line with the local regulations. They have also been fined EUR 5 million each ($5.3 million).
The very serious infringement in the aforementioned 13 cases was unlicensed gambling. The violators included the following companies:
- Interactive Pro
- Stars Cream
- Loveca Sino
- Rougeca Sino
- Mountberg
- Alimanieri
- Goldenpharaoh
- Goldenlion
- Golden Genie
- Bigwins Games Tech
- Games & More
- Gladiator Holding
- R. Bostock Enterprises
In addition to the aforementioned 13 cases, the DGOJ also detected two other violations, issuing smaller fines to two other companies. The two operators in question were licensed companies that committed other infringements and were handed fines totaling EUR 325,000 ($343,150). The sanctioned operators in these cases were Codere and Electraworks.
Since the latest changes to the LRJ, which states that serious and very serious infringements that are final will be published on the official DGOJ websites, the regulator has sanctioned a total of 154 gambling operators. In addition, the DGOJ has issued fines totaling EUR 398 million ($420.2 million).
Spanish Bar Owners Tried to Swindle a Lottery Winner
In other Spain-related news, a swindling case that had been dragging on for six years was finally resolved, ending with the suspect going to jail. The case, which was shrouded in anonymity, concerned bar owners who tried to swindle a lottery winner out of $16 million in winnings.
As it turned out, the bar owners had selected the same numbers as the lottery winner, making them eligible to win a prize. Since the winner was the one who originally entered the correct combination, the other tickets would have won around $140 million. The bar owners, however, tried to convince the winner that their tickets had been mixed up and proposed splitting the prize.