Spain creates National Commission against match fixing
Government targets corruption and fraud in sport with first meeting scheduled for September
Spain’s government has approved the creation of its first National Commission to combat the manipulation of sport and fraud in gambling.
The objective of the new body is to develop action plans, recommendations or diagnoses to detect, prevent and combat illegal actions in the field of sports competitions and fraud in betting.
The commission will be made up of members of the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), the national police, civil guard, higher sports council and individuals working in sports competitions and the betting sector.
It will operate as standing committee and a plenary committee, though neither will be independently funded by the Spanish government.
Each member organisation will appoint individual members of the organisation, with the first meeting scheduled for September 2019.
Chairmanship of the commission will be on a rotating yearly basis between the head of the DGOJ and the Directorate General of Sports.
For its part, the standing committee will carry out periodic analysis of match fixing and betting fraud submitting proposals to a so-called plenary body, which will have the power to enforce rules to detect, prevent and combat these crimes.
The plenary body will meet twice a year and will aim to encourage training, awareness and education of all sports betting industry stakeholders about match fixing.
It will also approve the creation of working groups, be responsible for approving recommendations or action plans and collaborate with national and international organisations in the area of match-fixing.
To coincide with the first meeting of the committee, the Spanish government has confirmed it will look to launch the DGOJ’s first early warning system for sports betting.
The system will allow operators to exchange information on betting markets as well as reporting any potentially fraudulent activities which take place.