Spain Considers Proclaiming Gambling Addiction a Mental Disorder

Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) – Spanish state gambling regulator – has revealed the Responsible Gambling Program for the next year. The biggest change to be implemented is the proclamation of gambling addiction as a mental disorder.

Responsible Gaming Advisory Council (CAJR) has green-lit this initiative which will be introduced over the next several months. This continues the regulator’s efforts of promoting responsible gambling in this country which has seen a big surge in online gambling.

Gambling Addiction Taken Seriously

The biggest measure of them all – the classification of gambling addiction as a mental health issue…

…means that both entities, DGOJ and CAJR, will define and establish a list of variables that can identify an individual as a problem gambler. They will also determine what is the number of people who are being treated for these issues.

DGOJ plans to use the data gathered to make their decision-making more efficient and also to help public policies in guiding them to better cope with these problems and provide relevant assistance where needed.

This will also be used to determine the gambling addiction’s impact on society.

Probing the Mind of a Gambler

Also…

…DGOJ will conduct a very thorough research of Spain’s self-exclusion program, General Registry of Access to Game Interdictions (RGIAJ). Doing so, they will concentrate on improvements that can be made in regulatory and operational sectors.

This study will include collection of information on the number of consumers that have chosen to be part of the scheme, while masking their backgrounds and situations and the operators where they have gambled.

Regulator’s official statement says:

“Although the evaluation of the operation and results of the RGIAJ is highly satisfactory it is necessary to reflect on those aspects that require adaptations and improvements.”

ID Frauds Under Surveillance

The regulator will also create an alert system that will flag the potential fraud of IDs, when players sign up to gamble with a casino operator.

DGOJ is already providing licensed operators with a system that verifies players’ identities. However, in their mind, this system requires a boost that will tackle the issue more effectively.

The player will be alerted when someone attempts to register with their own details, after they have already registered with the casino. DGOJ comments that “this complements the rest of the work that the DGOJ is doing to reinforce the guarantees of the identity verification process prior to the activation of user registration.”

Source:

“Spain to asses gambling addiction as mental disorder”, igamingbusiness.com, December 17, 2019.