“No online gambling advertising” law: In Spain, the number of new players has decreased a lot, but the number of those already playing has not decreased / How it is in other European countries

Investigative site Snoop analyzed how the gambling industry is regulated in other European states and how restrictive the laws are compared to those recently voted in Romania.

The Senate voted on Monday two bills that introduce new restrictions on advertising and access to betting and gambling. The projects are to be debated in the Chamber of Deputies, decision-making body.

In Spain, for example, research shows that advertising restrictions have not eliminated gambling behavior, but have significantly reduced it entry of new players.

In Moldova, after completely banning betting ads in 2022, the Parliament adopted, two years later, a draft law that partially relaxes the ban. And in Italy there is talk of reversing the ban on online advertising.

Some of the experts consulted by Snoop say that the bill banning online gambling and betting ads between 6am and midnight cannot be implemented in its current form.

Online publications, especially sports ones, would be “massively affected”, says Dragoș Stanca. “Betting represents one of the most active categories of advertisers, with an estimated share of approximately 20% of the volume of ongoing campaigns.”

How is it in Europe?

The new legislative provisions were also adopted by other European states, and in some cases their effectiveness was tested. In some states, however, after several years of harsh restrictions, the legislation has been partially relaxed as a result of industry pressure or court decisions.

In countries such as Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Latvia or Moldova, any form of gambling advertising has been banned. It was also forbidden to associate them with sports or public figures.

Italy has the toughest regime in Europe

Italy has probably the toughest regime in Europe, but this is likely to change in the near future. In 2018, the Italian Council of Ministers adopted the “Dignity Decree” (Decreto dignità) which prohibited “any form of advertising, even indirect, related to games or bets with monetary winnings, as well as games of chance, which are also carried out by any other means […]including social media.” It was the first EU country to decide this.

The legislation had an immediate economic impact on the areas most dependent on the money received from operators for promotion.

Specifically, the sports/Serie A industry and the media suffered significant losses. In addition, the implementation of the law also came with considerable fines. In 2023, AGCOM, the Italian communications watchdog, fined YouTube 2.25 million euros and Twitch 900,000 euros for violating the ban on gambling ads.

In the seven years since the legislation has been in place, football clubs have found various ways around it. According to an investigation carried out by journalists from Investigate Europethree Serie A clubs (Inter, Parma, Lecce) had shirt sponsors using betting-adjacent names like Betsson.sport or AdmiralBet.news (news apps) or BetItalyPay (payment platform).

An increase in unlicensed operators

The “decree of dignity” received more criticism in Italian society because it decreased the visibility of licensed operators, but indirectly also led to an increase in unlicensed operators.

Today there are several proposals in the Italian parliament to relax or reform this ban. But there is also opposition to lifting the ban.

“If reintroduced, gambling advertising will generate around 100 million euros a year for Serie A clubs, but will impose billions of euros in health costs to society, given the public expenditure required to treat gambling addiction,” he explains, in the same material from Investigate EuropeGabriele Melluso, leader of a consumer protection group.

What will happen to Meta and Google in Romania?

And in Romania there are already signs that online advertising for unauthorized operators will represent a significant problem. Last year, ONJN asked Meta and Google to immediately remove sponsored ads promoting unauthorized gambling operations in the country.

ONJN had discovered that paid advertisements for unlicensed operators were running on several platforms owned by Meta, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, and were also appearing in Google search results.

Spain: real, documented effects of bans

The idea of ​​the Romanian parliamentarians to reserve a nocturnal time interval in which to allow gambling advertising has a correspondence in the Spain model. Here, advertising is allowed at night, between 1 and 5 (on TV, radio but also on video platforms like YouTube).

In 2020, the Spanish heavily regulated gambling and betting advertising. They banned:

• sports sponsorships with gambling branding;
• the use of celebrities and influencers in gambling advertising;
• casino welcome bonuses, which meant that companies' promotions could only target already active players;
• online ads were only allowed on operator websites or social media accounts where only followers could be targeted.

In the first three years, the regulations in Spain had a real impact, according to research published in Harm Reduction Journal last year. Thus, the number of new online game accounts opened in 2023 (1.35 million) was 55% lower than in 2020 (3 million).

In contrast, the law did not appear to have significant effects on those who were already gambling. During the period studied (2020-2023), the total wagered amounts and deposits of active players increased. In other words, ad restrictions did not eliminate gambling behavior, but they did significantly reduce it entry of new players.

Some of the bans were removed by the Supreme Court in Madrid

Despite the positive impact of the legislation, the gambling industry (via the Digital Gaming Association of Spain – Jdigital) challenged certain provisions in court, arguing that they are exaggerated or without legal basis.

And in April 2024, Spain's Supreme Court annulled an important part of the 2020 provisions, finding that they did not have sufficient legal coverage and that they affected business freedom.

The restriction banning promotion to new customers has been removed, the ban on using celebrities in ads has been lifted, and it is now legal again to advertise on social media and video platforms if they target users over 18.

The rest of the restrictions remain in place today. The protection of minors remains a central topic in the current debates in Spain, and the government is discussing a legislative reform to reconfigure stricter rules to control gambling advertising.

Age restrictions in Europe: 21 years

In Europe, a ban on gambling for minors is the general rule, but the minimum age and enforcement mechanisms differ from state to state. Access to gambling under the age of 18 is prohibited everywhere, but some countries have increased the age at which the restriction is removed to 21: Greece (for physical casinos and slots), Belgium (for all gambling, except for the national lottery), Cyprus and Denmark (for physical casinos), Estonia (for casinos but also online casino games).

Countries that have raised the age to 21 aim to reduce the exposure of vulnerable young people to gambling.

The literature suggests a link between the age of gambling onset and the development of problem use or addiction.

Thus, the study “Too Young to Gamble: Long-term Risks from Underage Gambling”, in the Journal of Gambling Studies, extrapolates data from a Spanish population study on the onset and associated risks later in life. Research shows how people who start gambling before the legal age are more likely to develop gambling problems than those who start later in life.

And a French study published in 2020 in the British Medical Journal shows how young people who start gambling in adolescence later have higher rates of symptoms associated with problem use and greater severity of problem gambling behavior (including addiction) compared to those who start later.

In Romania, the legislation already prohibits the access of minors to gambling. But numerous studies and journalistic materials show that the ban is often not respected in practice. Continuation on Snoop.