SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Alberto Garzón, Spain’s newly appointed Minister of Consumer Affairs, has revealed that Royal Decree reforms will be formally announced on Friday 28 February.
Garzón made his statement addressing civil servants of Spain’s DGOJ gambling regulatory authority at a meeting hosted by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.
The long-awaited reforms for Spain’s advertising code on gambling products are to be presented to Congress on 28 February, which will see the newly elected PSOE-Podemos coalition government formally approve the decree as federal law.
The decree’s ascension into federal law ends a year-long wait for Spanish licensed operators, who during 2019 were made aware of sweeping inbound changes to Spain’s federal advertising code.
Spanish gambling incumbents have been informed that this new code will feature a ‘four-hour advertising window’ across TV and radio formats, scheduled from 1-5 am across all communities.
Online restrictions will see licensed incumbents no longer allowed to promote welcome bonuses across their digital inventories. Furthermore, all bonus incentives will be capped at €100 and limited to one use only.
Spanish operators are expecting the Consumer Affairs Ministry to confirm a ‘grace period’, allowing incumbents some time to adjust to changes and finish pre-approved contracts.
The Royal Decree will be passed as the first set of ‘concrete measures’ to reform Spain’s land-based and digital gambling sectors.
Given an expanded remit of monitoring gambling’s regulatory development, Spain’s Consumer Affairs Ministry is expected to announce the development of a new ‘industry registry‘ to monitor all Spanish gambling consumer transactions within the coming months.
Mirroring UK policies, PSOE and Podemos are also reportedly considering the introduction of a ‘management fee’ on online gambling operators to fund problem gambling support and treatment by Spanish health networks, and further ‘repair the damaging social effects produced by gambling’.
