Spain to Create a Match-Fixing Monitoring Body

Spain’s regulator, the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), has identified potential match-fixing cases. As coordinated with the Ministry of Consumption and the National Police, the country will probe into the report and seek to identify possible manipulations in professional sports.

The police will receive access to the SIGMA database and will use the currently available information to investigate potential cases of match-fixing in professional sports and sports betting.

SIGMA is a tech solution that allows the DGOJ to manage an interactive cooperation network. It allows sports organizations, teams and legal gambling operators to work together to prevent match-fixing and other gambling-related fraud and protect the integrity of the sector.

The SIGMA unit is crucial to cracking down on gambling crime in Spain and, with the assistance of the National Police, will contribute to the protection of the local market. Since match-fixing is one of the biggest threats to professional sports and the legal sports betting market, it is essential to crack down on fraud and enforce the rules.

A Monitoring Body Will Be Established

As agreed, the DGOJ and the National Police will join forces to form a so-called Monitoring Commission. The latter will be responsible for analyzing the sports sector and adopting measures that are necessary for the investigation of gambling fraud in sports.

The Monitoring Commission will be founded in a month and will convene annually to discuss various developments in the sector. In addition, the commission may be convened urgently under extraordinary circumstances, should any of the parties request it.

As agreed, the DGOJ and the National police will keep the confidentiality of all information they share during the course of their investigations. The confidentiality in question, the bodies announced, would be valid for four years.

Spain Seeks to Regulate Streamers

In other news, Spain recently announced its intentions to regulate internet celebrities. This, by extension, will affect gambling streamers and influencers since all internet celebrities will be required to be more transparent about their activities and sponsorships.

Under the proposed regulations, influencers will have to provide information about themselves, including their name, nationality, tax identification number or foreign identity number. In addition, Spain proposed establishing points of contract that customers can use to share their opinions and critiques.

However, the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, which proposed these rules, did not explain how it would decide which streamers these rules apply to.