Spain’s Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) took part in the 2026 edition of the Italian Gaming Expo & Conference (IGE), held on April 14–15 in Rome, where it presented its innovative system for detecting players exhibiting risky gambling behaviors.

The event has established itself as Italy’s leading strategic forum for the gaming sector, bringing together regulators, institutions, operators, and international experts to discuss current and future industry challenges from the perspectives of sustainability, innovation, and responsibility.

During the conference, DGOJ Director General Mikel Arana joined the international panel “Best Practices in Responsible Gambling and the Dream of a Pan-European Regulation,” alongside representatives from European regulatory authorities and industry specialists.

A pioneering system to detect risky behavior

At the panel, the DGOJ introduced its early detection mechanism for identifying risky online gambling behaviors—an initiative recently unveiled at the International Gambling Congress and considered pioneering within Europe.

The system, developed in compliance with Royal Decree 176/2023, is based on a supervised learning model designed to identify behavioral patterns associated with gambling risk. The algorithm has been trained using real data provided by more than 500 individuals.

By analyzing player activity over the previous six months and applying the model on a monthly basis, the system enables early identification of potentially problematic gambling behavior.

Strengthening player protection measures

Once identified, these player profiles allow operators to implement targeted protection measures as required by regulation. These include limiting certain payment methods, restricting promotional offers, and applying additional control mechanisms.

This approach reinforces Spain’s regulatory framework, which prioritizes prevention and user protection from a public health perspective, leveraging advanced technological tools to enhance the effectiveness of public policies in the gambling sector.

DGOJ’s participation in IGE 2026 reflects its ongoing commitment to international knowledge exchange and the development of shared solutions to address the challenges of an increasingly digitalized and global gaming environment.