FEJAR says €20,000 ICE Barcelona donation launched responsible gambling conference

FEJAR said the €20,000 donation it received at ICE Barcelona 2026 helped it stage the inaugural Ibero-American Conference on Responsible Gambling. The donation was funded by contributions from 11 industry brands, according to the organisation.

The contributing brands were Acordjoc, Betsson Group, BGaming, Cirsa, Flutter, Grupo Orenes, Merkur, Merkur Dosniha, Novomatic, Novomatic Spain and Zitro. The conference brought together gambling regulators from Spain, Chile, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Portugal, and provided a platform for them to exchange knowledge, compare strategies, share challenges and identify best practices.

FEJAR President Gerardo Rodríguez said the conference had established FEJAR as a forum for responsible gambling expertise across the Ibero-American community and had shown the value of international cooperation in addressing gambling-related harm.

According to Rodríguez, the money was not the main point of the donation. He described the Sustainable Gambling Zone's backing of FEJAR as a favourable sign regarding investment in knowledge, prevention and dialogue. He also said that initiatives like the Sustainable Gambling Zone and the ICE Research Institute showed a widening readiness to support research, produce evidence and encourage debate. Rodríguez argued that funding knowledge is necessary for grasping risks, assessing current measures and finding new prevention and protection approaches. He added that "the sustainability of the gambling sector must be built on shared responsibility" and a commitment to people affected by gambling harm.