Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego

Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) is the main national gambling regulator in Spain, under the Ministry of Consumption (Ministerio de Consumo). It is DGOJ that manages the entire system of licensing, supervision, reporting and protection of players in the online segment operating throughout the country. Its role in the Spanish industry is comparable to the British UKGC or Italian ADM: the body sets standards, monitors the honesty of operators and maintains a balance between business and responsibility to society.

1) History and legal basis

DGOJ was officially created in 2011 after the adoption of Ley 13/2011 de Regulación del Juego, becoming a key element in the new centralized regulation model. Prior to this, control was fragmented between different departments and autonomous communities.

Law 13/2011 gave DGOJ exclusive competence in matters of online gambling at the national level, including licensing, technical compliance control and sanction enforcement.

2) Main functions of DGOJ

• Operator licensing. Issuance of general and singular licenses for online games (bets, contests, casinos, poker, etc.). Monitoring of terms, renewals, revocations and compliance with license conditions.
• Oversight and audit. Checking the technical systems of operators (servers, RNG, reporting, security, logging), regular audits and certifications in accordance with royal decrees RD 1613/2011 and RD 1614/2011.
• Market monitoring. Collection of statistics on GGR, turnover, tax revenues and Responsible Gaming indicators.
• Advertising and communications. Monitoring compliance with RD 958/2020 rules, including formats, broadcast times, transparency and protection of minors.
• Responsible game (Juego más seguro). Implement and control the safe play measures of RD 176/2023 and coordinate prevention programs.
• Self-exclusion and registries. RGIAJ (Registro General de Interdicciones de Acceso al Juego) is a centralized register of persons excluded from access to games on their own application.
• Sanctions and enforcement. DGOJ has the right to impose fines and temporary suspensions of licenses for violation of the law.
• Fighting illegal online gambling. Work with providers, search engines, payment companies and law enforcement agencies to block unlicensed sites.

3) Organizational structure

• Subdirección General de Regulación del Juego - licensing, regulatory work and legal expertise.
• Subdirección General de Inspección del Juego - inspections, audit of operators, control of technical platforms.
• Subdirección General de Gestión y Relaciones Institucionales - coordination with other departments and autonomous regions, international contacts.
• División de Juego Responsible - development and supervision of responsible play policies, behavioral data analysis, collaboration with psychological services and NGOs.
• Unidad de Coordinación Administrativa - Human Resources, Finance and Digital Services Management DGOJ.

4) Tools and digital ecosystem

• Game account (cuenta de juego) - all licensed operators are required to maintain individual user accounts with verification, history of deposits and limits.
• Synchronization with RGIAJ. Checking on player entry is mandatory in real time.
• Aggregated reporting. Operators transmit telemetry data (sessions, deposits, winnings, RTP) to the secure DGOJ system.
• AI monitoring. New initiatives 2025-2026 provide for the automatic detection of anomalies and suspicious patterns of user behavior.

5) Interaction with autonomous communities

Although online gambling is regulated by DGOJ at the national level, the offline market (casino, bingo, salons) remains within the competence of autonomies.

The regulator maintains a permanent coordinating council (Consejo de Políticas del Juego), where representatives of the autonomous regions agree on approaches to Responsible Gaming, taxation and data exchange on RGIAJ.

This ensures system integrity and prevents duplication of authority.

6) International cooperation

• Expert Groups of the European Commission on Gambling;
• CEN and IMGL networks developing RNG and RTP certification standards;
• International anti-money laundering initiatives, under the FATF and EGBA;
• Since 2018 - in the joint liquidity of online poker with France and Portugal, under uniform requirements for the audit and protection of players.

7) DGOJ Priorities 2030

1. Strengthening digital surveillance. Development of telemetry and RG risk models.

2. Transparency and open data. Annual reports, statistics of players and operators, open APIs.

3. ESG and social responsibility. Making Responsible Gaming's policies a sustainable public standard.

4. Integration with EU digital identities (eIDAS 2. 0). Simplifying KYC and fighting multiaccounting.

5. Coordination with MiCA and AMLD6. Updating requirements for payment channels, especially with the participation of cryptoservices.

8) Significance to the industry

• predictability for investors and operators, protection for players and families, sustainable tax revenues for the state, Spain's image as one of the EU's most transparent and balanced jurisdictions.

Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) is the foundation of the Spanish model of gambling regulation. It is a technocratic and socially oriented regulator that strikes a balance between innovation and responsibility.

By 2030, DGOJ plans to become a fully digital "next-generation surveillance" agency - with automated monitoring, interagency APIs, predictive risk models and transparent analytics for society and industry.