Spain Holds Groundbreaking New International Gaming Congress Event
A new international event examining the social impacts of gambling has been held in Europe.
The Spanish capital city Madrid hosted the first International Gaming Congress, which took place from November 13-14 at the National Mint and Stamp Factory.
Professionals from the gambling industry were among those in attendance at the event, as well as institutional representatives and academics.
The Spanish Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, made a speech over a video message to officially open the conference.
Spain’s Secretary General of Consumer Affairs and Gaming, Andrés Barragán, was in attendance to give a speech to the delegates.
During the event, he announced the approval by the Congress of Deputies of measures such as the banning of welcome bonuses.
Spain will also be requiring payment with bank cards that are matched to the ownership of online gaming accounts after a rule change was confirmed.
Live Broadcasts
Importantly, the first International Gaming Congress featured online broadcasts so that people interested in following the proceedings could do so without having travelled to Spain.
The first session that took place during the congress attracted a capacity audience of 320 people, with representatives of operators making up a quarter of these people.
Staff from the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling staff made up 14% of the attendees at the opening session.
People from universities made up some 13% of the first session’s audience while the same percentage came from legal services and consultancy.
Meanwhile, 4% of those present at the International Gaming Congress were from player and consumer associations and operator associations.
Public administration and public authorities accounted for 6% each, the same percentage as those from laboratories, providers and services.
The Spanish city of Madrid hosted the first International Gaming Congress
Bilingual Deliveries At International Gaming Congress
As well as being broadcast on the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling and Secretary General of Consumer Affairs and Gaming YouTube channels, the event was bilingual.
Spanish and English languages were used to ensure that everyone could follow the sessions.
Simultaneous translation services were in place for in-person attendees and virtual viewers.
The online broadcasts proved to be reasonably popular with around 400 views recorded during the first day of proceedings.
Spain’s Moves To Regulate Gambling
As is the case in a lot of countries around the world, Spain has been taking measures to provide tighter regulation of the gambling industry.
Hosting the International Gaming Congress was a sign of the nation’s dedication on the issue.
Earlier in the year, discussions were held over potential changes to the law, with the Joint Commission for the Study of Addiction Problems having approved a raft of measures.
Among those were new measures to control slot machines and online gambling, which were duly discussed by a plenary session that was held by the Spanish Gambling Policy Council.
The council approved the 2024 Gambling Activity Report as part of the event, as well as providing updates to a series of Royal Decrees regarding licences and deposit limits.
The Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) also presented results following a report into minors and land-based gambling.
However, despite discussions being held on potential pathways forward in this area, no agreement was reached on the next steps that need to be made to move forwards.
