Juan Espinosa Garcia appointed head of Spain’s DGOJ
Regulator’s deputy director general promoted to replace Carlos Hernandez Rivera who vacated his role in November
Spain’s gambling regulator has promoted its deputy director general, Juan Espinosa Garcia, to replace Carlos Hernandez Rivera as head of the regulatory body.
The new director general of Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) was officially confirmed on Friday via a Decree Law following a meeting by the Spanish Government’s board of ministries.
Juan Espinosa Garcia worked as deputy director of DGOJ since 2013 and had previously served as deputy director of Public Administration Relations at the National Competition Commission.
He was also deputy director of International Affairs at the Ministry of Science and Technology and head of the Concentrations Area in the Competition Defence Tribunal.
His promotion at the regulator comes less than two months after the DGOJ’s former director general, Hernandez Rivera, stepped down from his role following more than four years at the regulatory body.
Hernandez Rivera had worked as director general of DGOJ since June 2013. He had previously been appointed deputy director general at the Ministry of Finance in April 2012.
According to the regulator’s latest figures, Spain’s online gambling market grew 22% year-on-year during Q3 2016 following double-digit growth in casino and sports betting revenues.