The Spanish government has today confirmed that it will be considering ‘all recommendations’ made by Spain’s Civic Ombudsman relating to the advertisement of gambling across Spain.
Spanish media has reported that despite not holding a legislative majority, the PSOE government will draft a ‘Royal Decree’ which will establish new gambling advertising restrictions implemented as federal law across all Spanish provinces.
The Ombudsman’s recommendations have reportedly been given the green light from Spain’s Ministry of Finance, which will consequently mean that new advertising limitations will be imposed.
Once a decree is drafted, all forms of gambling advertisements – excluding national and regional lotteries as well as ONCE (national disability/blind charity) wagering services – would be banned across Spain.
In its recommendations, the Ombudsman states that Spanish lawmakers should form a specific legislative framework on provisions regulating online gambling operators and their digital advertising inventories.
Spanish betting leaders had criticised the Ombudsman review of gambling advertising, stating that its recommendations had been based on a ‘misinformed agenda’, which treated licensed incumbents as if they were black-market actors.
