SPECIAL REPORT - INFOPLAY
SPAIN: ONLINE OPERATORS on the weekend after THE NEW ADVERTISING DECREE

The new legal framework that regulates online gambling advertising has taken the limitations in this matter much further than expected. Especially if we take into account that, as has already been observed in other countries, such drastic measures can be co-productive, mainly due to the rise of illegal gambling in the form of unlicensed operators as well as the strong economic impact that it will cause to sports clubs and sports media, which have largely received in the last decade virtually all of the colossal advertising and marketing budgets of gaming companies.

Below we review how the first weekend has been after the publication in the BOE of the Royal Decree of Commercial Communications of Gambling Activities. A few days that have served to verify that despite the fact that the Law entered into force on the same date of its publication -last week- the adaptation period for companies in the sector grants grace periods that will last until May By 2021 we can witness greater advertising pressure than we have been able to know in the past.

The investment in marketing and advertising will be recovered

A few weeks ago we discovered how the second quarter of 2020, more than a recession in the number and volume of players, had meant a radical drop in investment in marketing by the country's regulated operators; a variable closely related to the acquisition of new players.


Specifically, investment in marketing and sponsorships by regulated operators had fallen by almost 50 percent compared to the same period last year.

The enormous flexibility and the grace period margin that has been given, which means that the large online operators are now focused on investing again in everything they can until May and in the face of a scenario of decrease in budget items in most From fields related to marketing, gaming companies have once again regained the desire to invest.

Extremely intense weekend in visibility of operators in sport

Although for several months, sports clubs have seen their already signed sponsorships threatened, the Royal Decree on Commercial Communications of Gambling Activities has delayed until the effective end of the season the entry into force of the articles that will end these agreements.

That is why far from starting to witness the banishment of the advertising of online bookmakers for the shirts of the Professional Football League, the Endesa Basketball League or other relevant competitions, this past weekend we have verified a significant boom at sponsored sporting events.

Football

As for the beautiful game, with the letter sent to the 25 First and Second division football clubs with the notice that sponsorships must be terminated no later than August 30, the Ministry had already made the operators aware of the flexibility temporary standard.

This has allowed the licensed operators Betway, 1Xbet, Sportium to continue to dominate the visibility in the advertising spaces of sports stadiums; To which other companies with space on the shirts and in the LED's of meetings such as Valencia-Real Madrid have joined this day where, in addition to bwin and efbet, we have been able to see 888 advertising behind the goals.

In the second division, Sportium, Luckia, Betway and 888sport have also been operators with a prominent presence, while in both categories we have been able to see how in the television signal broadcast outside our borders, in the static advertising of the stadiums ads are still shown international operators such as Unibet, which are not licensed in Spain.

Basketball

In basketball, 888sport has continued to have advertising spaces in the pavilions of La Liga Endesa teams and in all the informative and audiovisual material produced by ACB.com as a great visibility platform that justifies its sponsorship of the highest basketball competition national. A league where RETAbet.es or KirolBet.es have a prominent presence.

Cycling

With the end of the Vuelta Ciclista a España 2020 in the streets of Madrid, after a stage that started at the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela, we have verified how Loterías y Apuestas del Estado looked in numerous advertising spaces, mainly highlighting its sponsorship of the jersey of the mountain (white and with blue spots).

Curiously, the winner of this classification that rewards the cyclist who has had the best performance on the mountain, has been a Frenchman -Guillaume Martin- who is part of the Cofidis team, the well-known online consumer credit brand, so in the image of the awards ceremony, the logos of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado and Cofidis have been seen more united than ever...


Motorcycling / MotoGP

But it was in the penultimate motorcycle race of the season, the one held at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia -the European Grand Prix- where the visibility of the online gambling sector has been most evident, since 888 and its three verticals ( poker, casino and sports betting) have monopolized much of the advertising space on practice and race days.

Television, Press and Radio

At the television level, in addition to the advertising campaigns that have accompanied most sports broadcasts (remember that the star measure of the new Law will prohibit advertising of online gambling in all media except in the time slot from 01:00 a.m. 05:00 hours), we have continued to see Interwetten, 888 and Sportium in their usual programs in the early morning period.

Nor have we observed changes in the usual media -radio, written press or social networks- where gambling operators have had a great weight as has been customary in recent years.

An uncertainty and several certainties

With the rumors about a new home confinement, one of the great concerns that operators fear opens: that the measures applied during the first state of alarm will be reinstated. A reality that could change this situation of apparent speed when it comes to achieving advertising visibility in the next two quarters.

However, this uncertainty does not change the conviction that millionaire losses in the media and football teams; the increase in illegal gambling (during the state of alarm, 414 illegal online gambling websites were closed, compared to 196 that were eliminated in all of 2019), or the obvious benefit for ONCE and state lotteries, are the three negative elements that will accompany the future of the sector according to the regulations recently published in the BOE.