Spanish egaming deputy appointed
Juan Espinosa Garcia replaces Carlos Hernandez Rivera who was appointed to director general last month
Juan Espinosa Garcia has been named deputy director of Spain’s gambling regulator, replacing Carlos Hernandez Rivera who was promoted to director general last month.
Espinosa Garcia, who studied politics and economics at the University of Edinburgh and University of London respectively, is also a professor of Administrative Law at IE University.
He joins the General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) from the Spanish Public Administrations of the National Competition Commission where he has been deputy director of relations since 2008.
Hernandez Rivera was appointed to lead the organisation in July more than a month after Enrique Alejo left the role. Alejo exited the DGOJ to join the country’s largest TV group as its corporate CEO after just 16 months.
Spain’s online gambling market has seen strong growth in recent times, with 4.2bn wagered on dot.es sites in 2012 comprising 11% of the total Spanish gambling market spend.
The egaming sector’s market share of amounts wagered rose from 6% in 2011 to 11% in 2012 with the regulator’s annual report noting “significantly higher per capita demand” for online gaming than any land-based product.