Spain resumes federal effort to ban gambling influencers

(AsiaGameHub) –   Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs has directed the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) to open a public consultation on planned amendments to the country’s Gambling Regulation Act (Law 13/2011).

The DGOJ has been tasked with collecting input on changes intended “to modernise gambling laws in response to the growth of online gambling and new technologies”.

The public consultation period will run until 22 June 2026. Input is sought on proposals that would prohibit gambling operators from employing celebrities, public figures, and influencers in advertising and player recruitment campaigns. The consultation will also examine potential restrictions on “organic search engine advertising”.

As a component of its Agenda 2030, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs will persist in evaluating and suggesting new federal regulations concerning gambling violations.

Back to drawing board on celeb ban

The prohibition on influencer and celebrity promotions was initially set to be enacted via the Royal Decree on Advertising. This decree established a new federal media code, which also outlawed welcome bonuses and confined gambling ads on TV and radio to the hours between 1am and 5am.

This measure was, however, contested before the Supreme Court by Spain’s online gambling association, Jdigital. In 2024, the group successfully contended that the DGOJ had circumvented proper oversight and that the ban on influencer/celebrity endorsements did not have an adequate legal foundation, as required for enhancing the restriction within a broader set of federal laws.

The DGOJ has now resumed its mandate, broadening its focus to include gambling offers that appear in search results only when users explicitly look for betting or gambling-related terms.

The overhaul aims to update Spain’s 15-year-old gambling legislation, making it more suitable for the rise of online gambling and digital platforms.

The broader goal is to enhance consumer safeguards, bolster preventive actions, and offer more robust instruments to combat illegal gambling. This consultation is an element of a wider gambling harm prevention strategy led by Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

Spain has verified that its new compulsory algorithm for detecting problem gambling will be deployed by all licensed operators.

The reform is part of a new technology-driven project by the DGOJ to upgrade security, oversight, and prevention in the gambling industry. Key measures already enacted include:

• An automated algorithm to identify patterns of risky gambling behaviour early
• A Joint Deposit Limits System to stop users from circumventing limits by moving between different platforms
• The Protocol for Action on Identity Fraudulent Taxpayers (PACS), created in cooperation with security forces and the Spanish Tax Agency
• The “Stop Juego” mobile app, which allows for voluntary self-exclusion and instant blocking of gambling access
• New advertising warnings that highlight operators’ financial gains instead of focusing only on individual accountability

The DGOJ asserts that these technical modifications will impose some of the toughest control and monitoring standards for gambling licenses in the European Union.

Nevertheless, the regulator has not provided clear details on the implementation of its proposed technical controls, most of which are still in beta testing.

In March, DGOJ Director General Mikel Arana gave the first progress report on the technical measures, disclosing that the planned monitoring system tracks over 60 behavioural and transactional variables in real time.

The algorithm has not been trialed in a live setting. The DGOJ has told operators to get ready for rollout in the upcoming months, but has not yet furnished licensees with technical specifics for integrating the system with their gaming and compliance platforms.