The Ministry of Consumption, through its Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), and the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) have signed this Friday a general protocol on prevention and education against illegal gambling and gambling in football.
With the initiative, the general director of DGOJ, Mikel Arana, and the president of the AFE, David Aganzo, agree on a framework of collaboration to prevent the proliferation of conduct that may constitute illegal actions.
To meet the objective, the entities will create a Joint Monitoring Commission, made up of two representatives from the DGOJ and two from the AFE, which will be in charge of monitoring and complying with the general protocol and which will hold meetings twice a year.
The joint framework proposes a series of actions that range from holding seminars on the subject to the development of joint information campaigns to raise awareness in the media, on social networks and in the changing rooms themselves.
Consumption has expressed its concern about corruption linked to the manipulation of sports competitions and betting fraud, which, according to the ministry, affects the development of activities related to gambling and undermines the interests of its participants and operators of the sector.
Likewise, the department headed by Alberto Garzón considers that this problem constitutes one of the greatest threats that loom over the sport, because, according to a press release, it violates its essential values and distances fans from their environment.
The diagnosis of the Ministry of Consumption is shared in the European Union by the Commission and the Parliament, which through the Resolution of March 14, 2013, on match fixing and corruption in sport, already revealed the seriousness of the problem, the statement emphasizes.
To these community initiatives is added the Council of Europe Convention on the manipulation of sports competitions, pending ratification in Spain, the purpose of which is to adopt a global response from various areas to face this threat.