Council of Ministers have approved the proposal of the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzón – the appointment of Mikel Arana (Ordizia, 1973) as head of the General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling.

In this way, the new director takes over one of the two areas on which the Ministry of Consumer Affairs is structured.

Graduated in Law from the University of the Basque Country, interim official and auditor of the Economic Control Office of the Basque Government, Arana also has a master’s degree in Human Rights, Democracy and Globalization from the Open University of Catalonia and an MBA from the Carlos III University from Madrid.

His experience in public service is completed with seven years as Director of Services of the Department of Housing and Social Affairs of the Autonomous Administration of the Basque Country and a legislature (2009-2012) as spokesman for Izquierda Unida in the Basque Parliament.

In the last year, Arana has combined his work as an auditor with teaching at the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU), as an associate professor at the Faculty of Labor Relations and Social Work. In an earlier stage, he taught at the Department of Business Law of the same university, in this case at the Faculty of Economics and Business.Online game advertising

The new general director of Gaming Regulation assumes the functions of proposal and analysis of the impact of the regulations related to gaming activity at the state level.

In this sense, Arana has as a challenge the development of Law 13/2011 on the Regulation of Gambling and, immediately, the approval of the Royal Decree that regulates articles 7 and 8 on advertising, sponsorship and promotion of gaming activities.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs published last February the Draft Royal Decree on Commercial Communications for gambling activities, the text of which will continue its ordinary procedure once the current state of alarm ends. The first phase has been coordinated by his predecessor, Juan Espinosa, who leaves the position of CEO (2016-2020) on his own initiative. The Minister of Consumer Affairs thanked the outgoing director for the work done in recent months and wished him luck and success in his new stage.

From the General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling, we thank Juan Espinosa for the work carried out over the years as well as the leadership in its management, which has managed to position the general direction as one of the international benchmarks in the sector. All the current team of the general management wish you the best in this new stage.