The new regulations aim to reduce minors’ exposure to gambling advertising by prohibiting sponsorship deals with operators.
Existing deals will continue until the end of the current Spanish football season.
Advertising on TV and radio will be restricted to the hours of 1am to 5am, including videos on YouTube.
On other social channels, operators can only share ads with their followers.
Online age gating must be used to further limit minors’ exposure to gambling.
The new measures also prohibit promotional bonuses, but operators can still offer special deals to registered and verified customers.
The rules were initially published in February, with exceptions for sports broadcasts on TV and radio.
In July, the rules were amended to include measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government introduced the regulations due to concerns about the increase in gambling advertising spend and gambling among young adults.
The government plans to tighten controls on gambling marketing in other European countries too.
The regulations have been criticized by the industry as disproportionate and guided by political beliefs rather than evidence of harm.
Industry association Jdigital believes the measures will lead to an increase in illegal gambling.
Jdigital has pointed out the hypocrisy of allowing state lotteries to increase advertising while restricting online gambling advertising.
The association argues that there is little evidence of gambling harm and that Spain has one of the lowest problem gambling rates among regulated jurisdictions.
In summary, Jdigital considers the new regulations to be discriminatory, unfair, and disproportionate.
