Spain Adds New Advertising Restrictions to Enhanced Protection Measures

More details about Spain's enhanced protection measures for the growing market are being released.

New Ad Restrictions

New advertising controls will complement the recently released self-exclusion scheme.

Minister Addresses Parliament

Spain's gambling advertising controls were indicated by Minister of Consumer Affairs Alberto Garzon in a Spanish Parliamentary address revealing an updated plan for proposed advertising controls which the Council of Ministers is prepared to ratify within weeks.

The New Protection Priority

Garzon is now focused on adapting the protection dimension to meet the needs of the times and the particular nature of the engagement of gambling activity head on:

“The regulation has to be similar to tobacco. We are not the textile sector here, but a sector that has an impact on public health.”

Crackdowns Initiated Earlier in 2020

The crackdown on online and casino gambling advertising in Spain was first announced by Garzon in February of this year 2020, and increased in July.

New Measures

The new measures included an advertising ban on events taking place before 8pm and a prohibition against the use of “name brand or trade name of a betting operator to identify a sports facility or entertainment facility.”

Sector Conflicts

With many La Liga team jerseys already sporting gambling brands, the new measures put many existing sponsorship deals in jeopardy, and only a short short transition period allowed before the new controls came into force at the beginning of October.

Minister Garzon Speaks

Minister Garzon actually expressed his consternation in an Onda Madrid interview:

“The law is the law. Clubs have been reckless renewing their sponsorships. From October no new contract can be signed and there will be a short period in which to extinguish their existing ones.”

Growing Vulnerability

In response to operator trade association Jdigital's opposition, Garzon further asserted the measures as solutions for gambling's negative impact on Spain's most vulnerable population, quoting “disastrous” industry data indicating 40% of new players under 26 were potential problem gamblers:

“The sector is growing on the backs of very vulnerable groups and advertising is one of the ways in which this sector has grown and by which this type of activity is normalized.”

Outlook

Garzon promises expanding further changes in the months ahead if current advertising measures do not help.