{"id":533,"date":"2020-07-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/spains-online-gambling-ad-limits-to-take-effect-in-october\/"},"modified":"2020-07-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T00:00:00","slug":"spains-online-gambling-ad-limits-to-take-effect-in-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gbc.ng\/index.php\/spains-online-gambling-ad-limits-to-take-effect-in-october\/","title":{"rendered":"SPAIN\u2019S ONLINE GAMBLING AD LIMITS TO TAKE EFFECT IN OCTOBER"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0\u00a0Steven Stradbrooke<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s harsh new online gambling marketing restrictions will likely take effect in October after the European Commission (EC) voiced no objections to the country\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Spain\u2019s Minister of Consumer Affairs\u00a0Alberto Garz\u00f3n<\/strong>\u00a0announced that he would press the government\u2019s Council of State to approve by September the\u00a0Royal Decree on gambling advertising\u00a0Garz\u00f3n unveiled earlier this month. Assuming that approval is secured, Garz\u00f3n (pictured) believes final approval by the Council of Ministers can be obtained by October.<\/p>\n

Spain submitted the latest draft of the Decree to the EC for approval on July 9, slapping an \u2018urgency\u2019 tag on the measure to ensure the EC got his message that children\u2019s lives were in danger (or something). On Tuesday, the EC declared that it had no issues with the Decree, clearing the way for Garz\u00f3n to forward the Decree to the Council of State.<\/p>\n

Spain is seeking to limit online gambling advertising on TV, radio and online video platforms to a narrow four-hour window starting at 1am. A\u00a0previous draft\u00a0of the Decree would have allowed advertising during live sports events but this exception was eliminated in the current draft.<\/p>\n

Sponsorships of sports teams, leagues and competitions will also be prohibited, with gambling names and logos to vanish from sports jerseys and stadiums. The government is reportedly mulling whether to allow state authorities to decide if they want to permit pitch-side advertising during matches in their respective territories.<\/p>\n

Online operators are also facing tough new limits on bonus offers, restricting them to customers who have made \u201ca minimum of three deposits,\u201d so welcome bonuses would be a thing of the past. The upper limit for acceptable bonus offers was \u20ac100 in earlier drafts but the specifics will now be left up to Spain\u2019s Direcci\u00f3n General de Ordenaci\u00f3n del Juego (DGOJ) regulator.<\/p>\n

Operators shouldn\u2019t expect much mercy from the DGOJ. Earlier this month,\u00a0Mikel Arana<\/strong>, who was\u00a0appointed DGOJ chief\u00a0in May, effectively told stakeholders to either\u00a0accept the government\u2019s new rules or make a run for the border.<\/p>\n

Speaking Wednesday\u00a0at a meeting of the Joint Committee for the Study of Addiction Problems, Garz\u00f3n said the advertising curbs were just the first step on the path toward tackling Spain\u2019s problem gambling issues. Garz\u00f3n said he and other cabinet ministers were discussing the possibility of reallocating some of the license fees paid by online operators toward problem gambling initiatives.<\/p>\n

Garz\u00f3n also warned that land-based operators shouldn\u2019t rest easy, as he would be convening officials from autonomous regions with responsibility for gambling to discuss ways of curbing land-based gambling, with sports betting shops firmly in Garz\u00f3n\u2019s sights.<\/p>\n

Jdigital, the trade group representing Spanish-licensed online operators, issued a\u00a0seven-point rebuttal\u00a0to the EC\u2019s decision to bless Spain\u2019s proposals, including a challenge for the government to produce hard data proving that gambling currently represents a public health problem in the country.<\/p>\n

Jdigital also took issue with marketing exemptions granted to the state-run SELAE and ONCE lottery operations, which effectively amount to state-aid (something the EC used to harp about quite a bit). The proposals also pose a barrier to entry for new operators, who will lack state-approved means of raising awareness of their brands.<\/p>\n

Jdigital and its fellow trade body Cejuego have made many of these arguments before, all of which fell on deaf ears. Barring a miracle or some legal jujitsu, Spain\u2019s government shows no sign of letting up on its plans to neuter the online gambling market.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n