The Spanish Government introduced new regulations on gambling advertising in the country, restricting digital and audio-visual commercial communications, bonuses and sponsorship deals.

TV and radio advertising is restricted to between 1am and 5am, age gating must be used online and promotional bonuses are prohibited. Betting sponsorship deals with operators and football teams have been banned, with existing deals able to continue until the end of the 2020/21 Spanish season.

Spanish operator association Jdigital criticised the move, suggesting the regulations will have the opposite effect and increase activity with the illegal market, stating it will have “dire consequences in terms of protection of vulnerable groups.”

Jdigital said: “We do not believe that there is good or bad gambling, as the Government is proposing, but we defend that online gambling should be a responsible leisure option, as the sector has always advocated and will advocate.

“We consider the Draft Royal Decree on Commercial Communications of Gaming Activities approved today discriminatory, unfair and disproportionate, especially in a market in which online gambling is a legal activity highly regulated, and where the incidence rate of problem gambling has remained stable at 0.3% of the population between 15 and 65 years of age since 2015, being one of the lowest in Europe.”