Dirección General De Ordenación Del Juego (DGOJ)

Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ)

Online gambling is legal in Spain under the Spanish Act No. 13/2011, which was enacted on May 27, 2011, to regulate gambling activities. The Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) is the governing authority responsible for regulating, licensing, and supervising gambling at the national level.

According to these regulations, offshore companies with foreign licenses are not allowed to offer online gambling services to Spanish residents. Any online gambling operator wishing to provide services in Spain must first secure a license from the DGOJ.

Protecting Player Interest and others

The Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) primarily focuses on authorizing and licensing online gambling activities, overseeing the technical systems to ensure games are fair and secure, protecting players’ interests, and preventing and prosecuting illegal gambling.

To operate legally, licensees must meet a variety of financial, legal, and technical requirements. For instance, operators must use websites registered under a “.es” domain, restricting Spanish residents from accessing other domains. Additionally, operators are required to set up a Spanish bank account for the segregation of customer funds and undergo regular inspections by the DGOJ.

By ensuring that only licensed operators and their services are accessible, the DGOJ seeks to guarantee that:

The rules are clear and accessible to players
Games are fair and honest
Customer funds are secure
Underage gambling is prevented through strict verification procedures

Complaint Submission Process

If a player wishes to raise a dispute with a licensed operator, they are advised to first submit a complaint directly to the operator, following their established complaint procedure. If the player is dissatisfied with the outcome or does not receive a response from the operator within one month, the complaint can be escalated to the DGOJ for further review.

Note: The DGOJ will not accept complaints related to contractual matters, as these disputes should be resolved through the civil courts. Additionally, complaints regarding illegal gambling, such as those involving operators not licensed by the DGOJ, will not be addressed, although such operators can be reported. The DGOJ also does not handle disputes concerning land-based gambling establishments, as its jurisdiction is limited to online gambling issues.

Complaints to the DGOJ must be submitted in writing, and there are two ways to do so: online, using the complaints form for gambling issues, or by post, addressed to the DGOJ at C/ Atocha nº 3, 28012 Madrid.

Once the complaint is registered, the regulator will investigate the situation, and if necessary, initiate legal proceedings and notify relevant authorities. Additionally, anyone, not just players, can submit a report to the DGOJ to inform them of operators whose activities may be harmful to players, such as those marketing online gambling in Spain through a “.com” domain or operating without a valid license.

Responsible Gambling

Clicking on an individual operator will display a list of associated licenses and domains, along with any changes that have been made to the license. As mentioned earlier, all operators licensed in Spain are required to operate from a domain ending in “.es”.

Responsible gambling is taken very seriously in Spain, and the regulator has implemented various measures in recent years to protect players. These measures include tools that allow players to control their gaming activities, such as setting deposit limits, and providing clear, accessible links to self-exclusion programs and help centers.

If a player wishes to exclude themselves from all online gambling in Spain, they can register with the Registro General de Interdicciones de Acceso al Juego (RGIAJ), a national register of excluded players. Operators are required to consult this list at the point of registration to ensure players are not currently prohibited from creating an account. Once registered, the exclusion is indefinite, but it can be lifted upon request after a minimum of 6 months from the registration date.

To request exclusion, players can download the RGIAJ form, complete it, and submit it either in person at a national police station, approved registry, post office, or other registration assistance offices as per article 16.4 of Law 39/2015, or via the DGOJ’s electronic office website.