Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego, the Spanish gambling regulator, announced that stricter measures have been taken towards the implementation of new advertising regulations.
To be more precise, the aforementioned restrictions are related to the ban that is to be imposed on advertisements of online gambling products and services available for Spanish players.
The Spanish regulator proposed amendments for reducing the negative impact of the gambling-related advertisements. It required these amendments to be included in the current regulatory network.
According to the new regulations, the operators have to comply with certain rules and the advertisements should be compatible with the new terms and conditions. The affected parties are given until April 17th to challenge the content of the amendments.
According to the proposal, any gambling advertisement should be broadcast between 22:00 and 6:00. The new regulations affect the operators available on the Spanish online regulated market, as well as sports clubs and owners of media channels.
Any form of in-show promoting of gambling products and services will be prohibited.
As for the sport sponsorship and aggressive online campaigns aimed at popularizing various gambling products and services, these activities will be restricted and regarded as illegal.
Back in 2014, the Spanish gambling regulator announced that there will be considerable changes in the online gambling advertisements content. The main reason why they decided to implement new regulations was the fact that they wanted to protect the vulnerable part of the population – young people and players prone to gambling addiction.
Meanwhile, the Spanish gambling sector is expanding and online slot machines will be accessible soon. This was the other reason why Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego members wanted to protect players prior to the above-mentioned expansion. Online gambling advertisements will not be permitted on websites intended for underaged citizens as well.
For the time being, there is no regulator in charge of the gambling advertisements and the content they promote. Once the new amendment comes into force, operators will have to adhere to particular rules.
The advertising restrictions come at a time when the Senate members demanded stricter measures to be taken towards the imposing of regulations aimed at promoting responsible gaming.
The soon-to-be-implemented restrictions are expected to have a negative impact on the popularization of operators that are available in Spain. 888 is a vivid example that the new regulations could hurt revenues. The company has recently launched an advertising campaign aimed at popularizing its sportsbook. As for bwin.party, the operator has been involved in the football betting activities in the country for quite some time.
