Spain Bans Betting on Youth Sporting Events

Spain's gaming regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) has announced that they're going to ban betting on child sporting events, trying to help fight fraud, addictive behaviors, and minors.

The DGOJ announced that the move will come into effect when the regulator publishes the new rules in the country's newspaper Boletín Oficial del Estado. Surprisingly, a study found that 5.45% of sporting events open to betting involved contests where most of the players were minors. In 2018, 874 youth football matches were available for betting, as were 474 youth basketball matches.

In their bulletin, the DJOG wrote: "This measure will help eliminate the possibility of competitions being manipulated through the perversion of sportsmen whose sporting and personal maturity has not yet been completed and, therefore, more susceptible to being influenced."