Related news
He Government has approved the royal decree to regulate audiovisual advertising for online betting and games of chance. The ‘Garzon Law‘ will prohibit announcements outside the hours of one to five in the morning and provides for fines for operators of up to one million euros and the suspension of business activity. In addition, football clubs may not wear any type of relationship with this type of economy on their shirts.
These are some of the premises of this royal decree, which, according to the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzonat the press conference after the Minister council“puts an end to the law of the jungle” that has governed the audiovisual advertising sector of gambling operators until now.
A norm with which, according to Garzón, the Government responds to a social alarm that had been generated “justifiably” and with which it is intended to protect the health of the most vulnerable population, minors, young people and people with pathologies of addictions. The new text refers to the advertising on television and radio of the game on the Internet that limits it to that section of the early morning.
Advertising in non-specialized written press is only allowed in those cases in which the edition is exclusively regional and the regional regulation does not prevent it. In practice, according to Consumer sources, most of them are prohibited because there are regional laws that prohibit this type of advertising.
The football, affected
The norm approved this Tuesday, which will enter into force with its publication in the State official newsletter (BOE), provides that sports clubs may not display gambling operator advertising on their kits, nor may “famous” people promote it, and prohibits the issuance of promotional vouchers to attract customers.
Regarding the contracts in force that sports clubs have with betting houses, the minister explained that “they will have a transience of one sports season, until August of next year to be extinguished” and that “from then on they cannot be renewed.”
“It is a reasonable term at the request of the State Council that allows gambling operators and companies linked to these contracts to have sufficient time to adapt their commercial relations and guarantee the economic viability of the affected units,” he said.
According to the regulations, companies may only direct their offers to registered and verified customers and, in no case, to people who have shown pathological behavior in gambling activity; To this end, new obligations are established for operators to strengthen access control to the betting market.
Fines
Non-compliance will be serious and gaming operators may be penalized with a fine of between 100,000 and one million euros and with the suspension of their activity in Spain for a maximum period of six months.
The new text also adjusts the content of advertising messages to protect the most vulnerable sectors, since according to Consumption, in the last four years, the figures for investment in advertising, promotion and sponsorship have tripled in Spain.
Parallel to this increase in investment, according to Consumption data, there has been an increase in gambling activity among young people between the ages of 18 and 25.
For example, in 2017, 28% of the new players were part of this age group, and two years later the figure has increased twelve points and stands at 40%, according to the data handled by this Ministry.
The standard develops articles 7 and 8 of the Law of the Game of 2011, and it does so through four titles (another 37 articles), six additional provisions, four transitory provisions, one repealing provision and three final provisions.
[Más información: Consumo advierte a 25 clubes para que cesen la publicidad de apuestas esta temporada]
Follow the topics that interest you
Source: www.elespanol.com
