SPAIN: Royal Decree on commercial communications of the gambling activities
PRESS RELEASE and OFFICIAL IMAGE

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

The Council of Ministers approves the Royal Decree to regulate the advertising of gambling and betting activities.

The audiovisual advertising of gaming operators will only be allowed between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. and promotional bonuses for attracting customers are prohibited.

Sports clubs may not display game operator advertising on their kits.

Non-compliance implies fines that can reach up to one million euros and the suspension of business activity


The Council of Ministers today approved the Royal Decree on commercial communications for gaming activities. Regulates, for the first time, advertising related to gambling and betting activities in Spain. According to the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, the government “puts an end to the law of the jungle” that has governed the gaming advertising sector until now.

The new standard develops articles 7 and 8 of Law 13/2011 of May 27, regulating gaming and prohibits audiovisual advertising outside of the 1.00 hours. at 5:00 a.m. In addition, the new text adjusts the content of advertising messages to protect the most vulnerable sectors and prevents gambling market operators from issuing player recruitment bonds, among other measures.

Since 2011, in Spain, companies in the gambling sector have increased their investment in advertising, promotion and sponsorship each year without regulation until now. In the last four years, investment figures have tripled in our country. Along with this increase in investment in advertising, promotion and sponsorship, there has been an increase in gaming consumption among young people aged 18 to 25. In 2017, 28% of new players were in this age group. Two years later, in 2019, the figure has increased twelve points and stands at 40%.

Through this legislation, the government responds to the growing social demand that calls for greater protection of public health in the exercise of gaming, minors and consumers in general. The initiative is anchored in the government agreement signed by PSOE and United We Can for the current legislature.

With this Royal Decree, the Government complies with the numerous initiatives approved in the Cortes Generales and in the autonomous legislative chambers. It also takes into account the European Commission Recommendation of July 14, 2014, on principles for the protection of consumers and users of online gaming services and prevention among minors.

The Council of Ministers, therefore, today approved a Royal Decree widely validated by all institutions, from the European Commission to the Council of State, which also incorporates recommendations from the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) and the Ombudsman.

Regulation

The new text consists of 37 articles, grouped into four titles, six additional provisions, four transitory provisions, a repealing provision and three final provisions. Through them, the Government regulates articles 7 and 8 of Law 13/2011 on advertising, sponsorship and promotion of gaming activity, as well as consumer protection and responsible gaming policies.

Regarding advertising, sponsorship and promotion, the rule establishes a package of measures to restrict the exposure of minors and other vulnerable groups to commercial communication in the betting sector as well as to provide an adequate perception of gaming as a potential risk activity. Likewise, the Royal Decree allows to prevent the generation of unthinking or compulsive gaming behaviors and to guarantee that the information given to the players is truthful and sufficient to form a true and undistorted idea of ??what the game's activity implies.

Regarding consumer protection and responsible gaming policies, the Royal Decree develops the regulation of safe or responsible gaming to establish specific and express actions by the gaming operators. They consist of the obligation for companies to proactively inform consumers of the risks inherent to gaming and the conditions for their development. Also, the measures contained in this block seek to sensitize society to potential adverse effects and detect problematic consumption patterns.

Featured measures

The Royal Decree on Commercial Communications of Gambling Activities prohibits the use of promotional bonuses to attract players. Companies may only direct their offers to registered and verified customers and, in no case, to people who have shown pathological behaviors in gaming activity. For this, new obligations are established for operators to strengthen control of access to the betting market.

Sports clubs may not sign sponsorship contracts with betting shops that involve their advertising on shirts and kits. The advertising of bets in sports stadiums, when they have events broadcast live, must comply with the same schedules as the rest of the media. Clubs may also not carry out sponsorship activities that consist of the use of an operator's brand to identify a sports facility. Neither will it be possible to broadcast betting advertising during sporting events on any medium outside the hours of 1 to 5 in the morning.

Advertising via postal mail is prohibited and that carried out via email may only be issued with the consent of the person concerned, never when the recipient has developed risky behavior. Commercial communication carried out in land-based advertising media, such as billboards or other outdoor advertising media, must comply with the provisions of the Royal Decree and the regional regulations in force.

Similarly, advertising on the Internet is relegated to the portals of the gaming operators. Profiles on social networks do not fall into this category, where the gaming companies can only issue advertising messages to their followers; nor video exchange platforms such as YouTube, where advertising is relegated to the same schedule as the rest of the advertising media.

In addition, for greater protection of minors, parental control is included through mechanisms that identify the category of gambling and betting activities in online advertising. Both in search engines, social networks or video exchange platforms, operators must have instruments that guarantee that, in no case, their advertising is directed to minors and that there are mechanisms for blocking or hiding ads.

Regarding the content of the message, real or fictitious people or characters of relevance or public notoriety may not appear in those ads for gambling and betting activities that are broadcast at the permitted time. Nor should the false or misleading perception of free or inexpensive promotions be given, or lead to confusion regarding the nature of gaming. In no case will it be allowed to include testimonies of previous beneficiaries, real or figurative, of the promotion; also not based on the skill of the player.

Sanctions regime

Gaming operators will be responsible for complying with the provisions on commercial communications provided for in Title I of the Royal Decree when these communications are disseminated, placed or made on their own or commissioned. The sanctioning regime of Law 13/2011, regulating gambling, will be applied.

Non-compliances will be serious and operators may be sanctioned with a fine of between 100,000 and one million euros and with the suspension of their activity in Spain for a maximum period of six months. Audiovisual communication service providers are subject to the sanctioning regime provided for in Law 7/2010, of March 31, general of audiovisual communication, whose instruction and sanction corresponds to the CNMC.

Entry into force

The operative part establishes that the rule will come into force with its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE). From that moment on, new contracts contrary to the measures contemplated in the Royal Decree may not be signed. For those already signed and that are in force at this time, deadlines are established that go until the summer of 2021, coinciding with the end of the sports season, although the private agreements between clubs and operators have been signed for a longer time.

The measures for the prohibition of promotional bonuses or the regulation of advertising on the Internet, although there are longer contracts, will have a shorter adaptation period and will come into force in full on May 1, 2021. In the case of advertising campaigns with people or Relevant characters that have already been hired will not be able to continue broadcasting from April 1, 2021. The rest of the contracts signed prior to the entry into force, may be maintained until August 30, 2021.

This transitory nature is intended to guarantee the technical and economic adaptation of the sectors that are affected by the approval of the new standard.