Spain’s competition authority offers support for tighter online regulations

The Spanish Comision Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) has offered support towards new governmental regulation aimed at achieving safer gambling in the country.

A draft Royal Decree (PRD) has been written up to introduce new measures to protect players, including introducing limits on loss and time.

The PRD was drafted in July 2021 and submitted in October to the CNMC for review.

In the review, recommendations included mandatory loss and time limits for every online casino playing session. Additionally, players would be classified as intensive players if they hit 50% of monthly recommended losses. Were this to happen, bonuses would be restricted on their account.

The PRD claims that while the gambling sector is already subject to intense regulation, there is more that can be done to protect players. It stated that “the prevention of addictive behaviours, the protection of the rights of groups at risk and in general, the protection of consumers” must occupy a prominent place.

The CNMC, in its analysis of the PRD, said: “In general terms, this PRD does not present unjustified restrictions on competition, insofar as it is based on an overriding reason of general interest (public health in the form of prevention of gambling addiction) and insofar as the conditioning factors for the exercise of the activity present a correct adaptation to the principles of good regulation.”

Additional emphasis was placed by CNMC on encouraging operators to suspend the gambling activity of those who exhibit problem gambling behaviours.

The Spanish government has long been wary of the effects of gambling on the population despite data showing that Spain is among Europe’s lowest for gambling-related harm.

Data from the Spanish regulator, DGOJ, published in December, showed gross gaming revenue (GGR) dropped by 5% year-on-year (YoY) during Q3 2021 to €182.69m.