Spanish gambling regulations to change during next weeks

Spain’s Minister of Consumer Affairs Alberto Garzon revealed that changes to gambling regulations in his country will be revealed “in two or three weeks”.

Garzon didn’t hide that his intention is to regulate operations in the iGaming industry, while he is open to continue negotiations and discussions with representatives from stakeholders to reach an agreement beneficial for all.

“There won’t be measures taken unilaterally. The subject of gambling advertising is pure chaos. It is a public health problem where we have to intervene. Some autonomous communities have a list of banned sites, people who know they have a problem sign up and are already forbidden to play, but if they pass to another autonomous community, which can be five kilometers away, it is not on the list. These gaps exist, but there are mechanisms to regulate”, Garzon added.

Last November, Spanish online gambling incumbents agreed to operate under the terms of a new self-enforced ‘code-of-conduct’’ mandate developed by trade body jDigital, designed to establish new marketing standards and significantly lower all-round betting advertising coverage.

It seems that this is not enough for new coalition government in Spain headed by Pedro Sanchez, who a couple of weeks ago said it will bring gambling advertising regulations in line with those imposed on the tobacco industry. “We will approve a regulation of the advertising of gambling – online gambling and betting – at the state level and similar to that of tobacco products” he said.

In response, the governance of Spanish gambling trade association Cejuego and trade body Jdigital called for dialogues with the president and a balanced and fair regulation for the sector.

“The advertising of the entire game is regulated without making distinctions, that is, that it affects both the public game (SELAE and ONCE) as well as the private game. And specifically, that is regulated in terms of quantity, messages and schedules,” Cejuego stated.