News

Spain calls for iGaming advertising restrictions amid COVID-19 pandemic

2 April 2020
By Gary Trask

Government officials ordered online gambling operators in Spain this week to restrict marketing and advertising efforts during the country’s COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in an effort to “protect problem gamblers.”

In a Royal Decree-Law dated 31 March from Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego that was approved by the Spanish Government, operators in the market were told that commercial communications that “implicitly or explicitly, refer to the exceptional situation resulting from the disease COVID-19 or which call for the consumption of gambling activities in this context, are prohibited.”

Also banned, according to the decree, are any promotional activities, “aimed at attracting new clients or loyalty of existing clients that collect economic amounts, bonuses, bonuses, discounts, gifts from bets or games, odds multipliers or prizes or any other similar mechanism.”

A “serious breach” of the decree will be punished with fines “from hundred thousand to a million Euros.”

A government official added that the decision was made "in a context of confinement that makes it even more necessary to protect problem gamblers."

Over the past 48 hours, operators have aggressively contacted affiliates, asking that they remove all Spanish market references bonuses, logos and promotions and stop sending mailings or messages.

The number of coronavirus cases in Spain reached 110,238 on Thursday, according to the country’s Health Ministry, with a death toll of 10,003. The Spanish Council of Ministers declared a high alert national lockdown on 14 March, restricting people to go outside their homes only for emergencies, to buy food, or for work.