Spain’s DGOJ joins SiGMA World Roma panel on blocking illegal online gambling across Europe

The Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), part of Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda, took part in SiGMA World Roma to discuss how regulators are trying to curb illegal online gambling. For PSPs and payment teams, the useful part is obvious: payment rails, social platforms, and mirror domains are now part of the enforcement problem, not just the compliance back office.

1. Mikel Arana, Director General of Ordenación del Juego, spoke on the panel “Europe’s Enforcement Era: Regulation Is Winning But At What Cost?” at Fiera Roma. The session focused on how enforcement has evolved in Europe, what supervision measures have achieved, and what still gets in the way when authorities try to shut down illegal gambling sites.
2. The discussion brought together regulators from Spain, Cyprus, Greece, and the Czech Republic, with each sharing experience and tools used against operators that offer online gambling services without authorisation. For regulated operators and their PSPs, that is the practical map of where enforcement coordination is happening, not just where rules exist on paper.
3. Several pressure points came up in the debate: the difficulty of blocking access to unauthorised websites, the role of payment methods, social media, and mirror domains, and the complications created by prediction markets when platforms argue their products are not gambling. That last point matters because classification disputes often decide whether payments can be processed, monitored, or shut off.
4. The session also stressed cooperation with payment service providers and digital platforms as a way to make anti-illegal-market measures more effective. In other words, regulators are treating payments and distribution channels as part of the enforcement layer, which is exactly where high-risk PSPs tend to get pulled into the conversation.
5. Another topic was how the legal industry can help authorities detect and combat illegal activity, especially when operators are based in other jurisdictions. The DGOJ said its participation fits within its role supervising Spain’s state online gambling market and its broader effort to strengthen the regulatory framework and player protection.