3. Disciplinary proceedings

DGOJ activity index

Disciplinary proceedings

Title VI (Articles 36 to 47) of the LRJ sets out the penalty system in relation to administrative breaches committed in terms of gambling under this law, with the power to penalise corresponding to the DGOJ for breaches classified as serious or minor and, for breaches classified as very serious, the head of the Ministry of Finance, although Article 1 of Order HAP/1335/2012, of 14 June, on the delegation of powers, delegates the resolution of the files and matters pertaining to the competence of the dependent management centres or attached to them to the State Secretariat for Finance and whose decision or authorisation is attributed to the Ministry of Finance by virtue of the legal system.

Once it has been decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings in relation to infringements provided in the Spanish Gambling Regulation Law, it is the responsibility of the Sub-Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling to conduct them, pursuant to the provisions of Royal Decree 769/2017.

Proceedings initiated during the year
 

Proceedings initiated by the State Secretariat for Finance

Infringement of Law 13/2011 on Gambling Regulation classified as very serious
  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 
Breach of Art. 39.a) The organisation, holding and operation of activities included in the scope of application of this act without the relevant licence. 15 20 20 13 14 82

Breach of Art. 39.j) Failure to comply with the redirection obligation referred to in Article 10.4 e) of this Law.

         1 1

Breach of Art. 39.g) The carrying out of gambling activities, infringing the reserve established in Art. 4 of this Law.

 1 1 1   1 4

Breach of Art. 39.g) and Art. 40.l) The manufacture, marketing, maintenance or distribution of gambling material owned by the operators who carry on reserved gambling activities pursuant to Article 4 of this Law without due authorisation.

         2 2
Total 16 21 21 13 18 89

 

Proceedings initiated by the Director-General for the Regulation of Gambling

Breach of Law 13/2011 on Gambling Regulation classified as either serious or minor
  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total
Breach of Art. 40.a) Failure to comply with the requirements and terms and conditions established in the licence and, in particular, the duties in respect of control to guarantee gambling security.  15   2 1 1 19

Breach of Art. 40.b) Allowing access to the gambling activity to prohibited persons, in accordance with Article 6 of this Law, provided that the gambling entity knows or should know the concurrence of such prohibitions.

   12       12

Breach of Art. 40.d) Carrying out the promotion, sponsorship and advertising of gambling which is subject of this Law, or intermediation actions, when those who do so are unlicensed or are in violation of the conditions and limits established therein or in violation of the rules in force in this matter, whatever the means used for it.

   2 4 3 1 10

Breach of Art. 40.j) Failure to comply with the technical requirements of the regulations or specification of terms of reference relating to software and communication systems. 

 2         2
Breach of Art. 40.l) The manufacture, marketing, maintenance or distribution of gambling material owned by the operators who carry on reserved gambling activities pursuant to Article 4 of this Law without due authorisation.   7 1     8
Breach of Art. 40.m) Non-payment of prizes to gambling participants.     1     1
Breach of Art. 41.a) Participating in gambling activities in contravention of the prohibitions established in Article 6.2. sections c), d), e), f), g) and h) of this law.       2   2
Total 17 21 8 6 2 54

 

Penalty procedures
 
  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Punitive resolutions 4 €400,000 11 €28,600,000 7 €850,000 5 €1,747,000 8 €8,200,000
Punitive resolution
imposing a fine and disqualification 		 2 €3,000,000 8 €6,400,000 8 €16,000,000 14 €14,500,000 12 €1,722,000
Resolutions resulting in
voluntary closure of illegal gambling websites		 7 €700,000 5 €500,000 2 €200,000  7 €700,000    
Resolutions resulting in
partial closure of illegal gambling websites		     1 €800,000 1 €800,000        
Resolutions resulting in a
fine (very serious breach)		     1 €500,000     5 €1,604,834    
Resolutions for
serious breaches		     14 €373,475 13 €1,110,269        
Resolution with a
reprimand		     4              
Resolutions establishing the non-existence
of an infringement resulting in the dismissal of the case		 10   4       4      

 

In terms of requests made to the most significant telecommunications operators to adopt measures to interrupt the domain name resolution service for queries originating in Spain related to penalised entities who continued to carry out illegal gambling activities in Spain with the corresponding monitoring of compliance with the service interruption being requested and  pursuant to Article 47.3 of the LRJ.

Requirements of telecommunications operators
 
Year Number
2014 5
2015 13
2016 18
2017 22

 

DGOJ activity index