Spain’s nearly complete ban on gambling advertising conflicts with European Union competition policies, the European Gaming and Betting Association has warned Spain’s Consumer Affairs Ministry.
The country’s Royal Decree on advertising is required to be followed by Spain’s regional autonomous governments. It requires gambling-related advertising restricted to a nighttime window of 1-5am. The decree also requires Spanish football clubs to end marketing partnerships with gambling firms by the end of the current season.
The decree was approved earlier this year, but was only signed into law last month.
The decree also requires Spanish football clubs to end marketing partnerships with gambling firms by the end of the current season.
The betting association, notes in its warning that Spain’s biggest gambling firms – the state-run ONCE and SELAE lottery operators – have been exempt from the restrictions, which discriminates against EU State Aid Rules.
The association said the Spanish government has implemented its restrictions without any basis of evidence, obstructing its policy objective to protect national consumers.
The EGBA had previously supported an EU-level challenge of Royal Decree amendments issued by Spanish online gambling trade body Jdigital.
“We urge the Spanish government to reconsider its advertising restrictions because there is a lack of data to support the measures and the granting of advertising privileges to state-run companies over private ones could potentially be in conflict with EU state aid rules,” said Maarten Haijer, Secretary-General of the EGBA in a press statement. “The restrictions clearly discriminate against private companies and favor the economic interests of the state-run lotteries, who are by far the country’s leading advertisers in the gambling sector.”
