Key points:
- The DGOJ has held a meeting on enhancing AML efforts in the Spanish market
- Industry representatives and money laundering regulators were present at the meeting
- The meeting seeks to create an open space for discussion around the topic
The Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) has announced that its first meeting to address current AML challenges in the Spanish gambling market was held on Tuesday 6.
The meeting brought together several industry representatives, alongside regulatory bodies including the Executive Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offences (Sepblac), the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Supervisory Authority for the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Public Treasury.
Further, the meeting was organised by Mikel Arana, Director General of Gaming Regulation, together with Irene Sánchez Pérez, advisory member of the Public Treasury and sought to unpick the latest AML regulatory developments in the European region.
Multiple topics of discussion were also covered as part of the meeting, including findings from inspections into gambling operators and the role of financial intelligence in preventing potential money laundering operations – followed by a roundtable discussion and Q&A.
The overall aim of the event was to spark discourse around the subject of money laundering in the Spanish market – creating an open space for discussion to challenge and push the sector further forward.
As such, the DGOJ’s press release went on to reiterate its dedication to “regulation, authorisation, supervision, coordination, control and, where appropriate, sanctioning of gambling in Spain,” further stating that the regulatory body “reaffirms its commitment to the integrity and transparency of the sector, promoting measures that reinforce security and legality in online gambling activities, supporting a strategy based on effective cooperation.”
Good to know: Late last year, the DGOJ posted Spain’s Q3 2024 results, highlighting a revenue figure of €348.1m ($361.9m) for the period
More recently, the DGOJ announced that Soft2Bet had obtained a general licence for the Spanish market, allowing the supplier to now distribute its casino products within the nation. Elsewhere, additional recent AML news in the European market saw the introduction of new initiatives by the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) to help enhance efforts against money laundering in the Scandinavian region.
