The Spanish Digital Gaming Association (Jdigital), announced that the country’s Supreme Court has partially upheld the association’s appeal against Royal Decree 958/2020, a piece of legislation which introduced several restrictions for the industry. However, Jdigital called for more dialogue with the Spanish regulator in order to put the country’s iGaming market on the right path.

The Spanish Supreme Court decided to partially uphold an appeal lodged by Jdigital and annulled several measures stipulated in the Royal Decree 958/2020, which came into effect in November 2020. Almost four years later the Supreme Court ruled that several articles in that decree lacked legal basis.

One of the annulled bits of legislation was article 13, which was related to targeted advertisements towards new customers. Following the Supreme Court’s decision iGaming operators in Spain will once again be able to advertise their products to players who have held an account for less than 30 days. Moreover, they will be able to advertise in venues with public accessibility which sell lottery games.

The ruling by the Supreme Court also allows celebrities to appear in gaming advertising again, while the ban on gambling ads on video sharing platforms was overturned as well. This means that iGaming operators can advertise their products to social media users, but only to those above 18 years of age.

Very Positive News

A previous appeal by Jdigital was rejected by Spain’s constitutional court in November 2023. The victory at the Supreme Court was described by Jdigital in a statement as “very positive news for the online gaming sector.”

However, the Spanish Digital Gaming Association argued that the measures that remain in place still impose several limitations that are considered too restrictive by the industry. For example, the ban on advertising between 1am and 5am both on radio and television remains in place, as it is covered by the General Law of Audiovisual Communication.

Moreover, Article 12 of the Royal Decree 958/2020 was not annulled, which means that iGaming operators still can not use branding for events that minors can see or sponsor sporting events or broadcasts. That said, Jdigital called for increased dialogue between the iGaming industry and the regulatory authorities in order to boost responsible gambling efforts while also allowing sustainable growth for the industry.

Source:

“Jdigital labels Spain ad restrictions annulments “very positive” but urges caution“, igamingbusiness.com, April 11, 2024.

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