Spain approves enforcement measures to strengthen young person protection

Spain’s Council of Ministers has approved a new Royal Decree on Responsible Gaming Environments, which will bring forth a series of draconian measures against advertising in the market.

The new changes will apply across all of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities with the aim of strengthening “the protection of young and vulnerable consumers, especially those aged 18 to 25”.

Under these new rules, licensed operators will be required to monitor the at-risk profiles of those under 25. In addition, operators will also need to adopt new duty-of-care rules for those customers deemed to be at-risk.

According to the new regulation, players who accumulate a net loss of €600 (£528.36), or €200 if they are under 25, in a period of three consecutive weeks will be classed as at-risk.

Operators will be required to send a warning message to at-risk individuals and a monthly summary of the player’s betting activity.

If a player does not responded within 72 hours of receiving the message, the operator must suspend the player’s account.

Operators will also be banned from sending promotional material to players in this category and are no longer allowed to include these players in VIP programmes.

Additionally, firms will be barred from sending promotions to those under 25 if they haven’t interacted with the company before.

At-risk customers will also be blocked from using credit cards as a form of payment.

Players who have self-excluded will also not receive promotional messaging, and will also be barred from accessing their accounts for 48 hours following sign-up.

Elsewhere, companies will not be allowed to display messaging on online casino games when a player doesn’t win to encourage them to spin again.

Firms will also be required to establish a specialist telephone helpline for those at-risk and train individuals to be responsible for supervising player protection measures.

Customers who play instant or lottery games online will also have to establish a maximum time and stake to play with before playing.

Operators who fail to comply with the new measures could face fines up to €1m and a licence suspension of six months.

In the case of serious infringements, operators could face penalties of up to €50m and a revocation of the licence.

The regulation will come into effect six months after its publication in the official State Gazette. There will also be a 12-month grace period for specific terms in the regulation to allow firms to develop the technology required.

Spanish gambling trade body Jdigital said it backed regulation as long as it was “proportionate” but said some of the new terms of the legislation would present “confusing and alarmist messages” to the public about the sector.

Jdigital said: “This rule comes at a time when problem gambling levels are falling, as shown by the prevalence figures for problem gambling in the country and which reflect the reports of the National Plan on Drugs, confirming that gambling activity by players is fully moderated, controlled and responsible.

“Despite the will expressed in the explanatory statement, the regulation contains imprecise aspects and other legal considerations that must be carefully evaluated. Jdigital remains firm in its responsibility as a defender of the rights and interests of the online gaming sector in Spain .

“In this sense, in the coming weeks we will carefully study the impact of the approved measures and we will study all possible ways to continue improving and interpreting the standard.”