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Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) have opened a public consultation on draft rules that would change how gambling operators advertise to potential customers, with the consultation period running until 22 June.
The draft advertising measures would place new restrictions on celebrity and influencer-led gambling promotions and impose tighter limits on customer-acquisition bonuses used to attract new players. They would also reduce the prominence of gambling-related content in organic search results unless users are actively searching for betting or gambling products.
The consultation is open to Spanish players, gambling businesses, and other organisations connected to the sector. The authorities have linked the proposed changes to consumer protection and the need to update the legal framework for online gambling.
DGOJ, Spain’s gambling regulator, commented: “The reforms aim to strengthen controls, improve prevention, and provide more tools to combat illegal gambling. This will allow the law to better adapt to the digital environment, especially the growth of online gambling. Current regulations have been in effect for 15 years. The reform aims not only to update the legislation but also to broaden consumer protection.”
The consultation follows a 2024 Supreme Court decision that partially overturned earlier restrictions on gambling advertising in Spain.
Other measures under consideration include a mandatory early-detection algorithm that would use real player data across all licensed operators to identify potentially harmful gambling behavior.
The ministry estimates that the system could increase current detection rates for problem gambling by 10 percentage points. It also plans to require responsible gambling warnings in advertisements, using a format similar to health warnings on cigarette packaging. The warnings would include loss-related statistics, including a ministry example stating that 75% of players lose money.
The proposals are being advanced against a backdrop of concern over unregulated online gambling. A report by EY, published in November last year, found that 23.4% of respondents had used unregulated gambling platforms at least once, either knowingly or unknowingly.
A further 9.3% openly said they had used illegal operators, while nearly half of users who believed they had gambled only on regulated sites had in fact accessed unauthorised domains.
Based on those findings, EY estimated that Spain’s illegal online gambling market generated €231 million ($267.68 million) in 2024, equivalent to 16% of the country’s regulated online gambling market.