On March 6, 2024, under the presidency of Mikel Arana Etxezarreta, Director General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), the Plenary of the National Commission for the Fight against the Manipulation of Sports Competitions and Betting Fraud (CONFAD) met.
This body, connected to the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumers and the 2030 Agenda, and whose presidency is exercised in rotation by the heads of the DGGU and the general directorate for sport of the Superior Council for Sport (CSD), articulates a formalized channel of dialogue and cooperation between public authorities, organizers of sports competitions and representatives of the gambling sector whose aim is to prevent and eradicate corruption and manipulation of competitions and sports betting through coordinated action among its members.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the CSD, the National Police, the Guardia Civil, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET), the National Professional Football League (LNFP), the Association of the Spanish Footballers (AFE), as well as the operators Codere, Sportium, Bet365 and Electraworks.
In the Plenary the status of membership of the Global Betting Market Information Service (SIGMA) was addressed and its main functional characteristic and its operation as a tool for the identification and analysis of possible anomalies that may be relevant for the investigations by the Forces and Security Corps. Furthermore, both representatives of the National Police Forces and the Guardia Civil presented to the other members of the Plenary some success stories in which the importance of collaboration in this sector was underlined.
The CONFAD website was also presented to the plenary and it was agreed that its members, as far as possible, should give maximum publicity to its existence so that it can be known by the general public. With this website, citizens will have information on the functions, composition and activity carried out by CONFAD, as well as on the most relevant regulations linked to the fight against the phenomenon of sports manipulation and betting fraud
Likewise, on the Website, access to the “Alert Portal” is made available to the public, a secure information channel through which any citizen can contribute information to the Global Betting Market Research Service when they have suspicions of facts relating to sports manipulation or related to fraud in sports betting markets.
The reporting portal aims to be the means through which citizens can collaborate in the fight against the phenomenon of sports corruption and betting fraud, thus actively contributing to ensuring that sport remains a transparent activity in which healthy competitiveness reigns.
The site is accessible at the following link: https://confad.ordenacionjuego.gob.es
Furthermore, in line with the functions of prevention, awareness and education that the members of CONFAD have within their scope of action, the Plenary took note and agreed to disseminate as widely as possible the information note of the DGGU in relation to the subjective prohibition referred to to article 6, paragraph 2, letters d, e) and f) of Law 13/2011, of 27 May 2011, on the regulation of gambling, by virtue of which the directors of sports bodies, athletes, coaches or other direct participants, as well as judges and referees, cannot place bets relating to their sporting activity. In this way, in order to guarantee the correctness of the bets, the participation of those who, due to their activity, find themselves in a privileged situation compared to the rest of the participants in the bets is prevented, as well as being able to influence the result.
Finally, representatives of the Spanish Football and Tennis Federations, the National Professional Football League and the Spanish Footballers' Association presented examples of good practices in relation to the fight against sports manipulation developed in their respective organisations.
