New gambling advertising rules and consumer penalties

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. It bans gambling operators' ads that encourage violent or discriminatory behavior, portray gambling as good for social or personal life, or use images of money and luxury.
2. The Government will create a General Registry of Gambling Access Bans and will promote agreements to connect it with the regional registries of banned players.
3. It creates the Global Betting Market Research Service, a network to share information and fight fraud and match-fixing in sports betting. Sports federations, leagues, operators and law enforcement can join, and data may not be kept for more than one year.
4. The Government will draft guidelines for the safer use of non-fungible digital assets, loot boxes and other monetization mechanics in video games.
5. It reforms the consumer penalty system: it sets fines from €150 to €1,000,000 depending on severity, allows lower fines if disproportionate to the offender's financial capacity, and adds required corrective action as an additional penalty.
6. The General State Administration may sanction consumer violations that are widespread across several autonomous communities and affect market unity and competition.

Who it affects

• Gambling operators: They must follow new advertising rules and can join the anti-fraud betting service.
• Companies penalized for consumer violations: They face new fines and additional penalties, adjusted to their financial capacity.
• Consumers and users: They gain stronger protection, and consumer associations can join penalty proceedings.
• Autonomous communities: Their consumer powers are guaranteed, and their gambling ban registries may be connected to the new national registry.
• General State Administration: It can sanction widespread consumer violations that affect market unity.

Words worth knowing

Cajas botín (loot boxes)

Virtual packages in video games whose contents are unknown until you buy or open them.

Activos digitales no fungibles (non-fungible digital assets)

Unique digital items that cannot be swapped for an identical one, such as an exclusive image or piece.

Sanción accesoria (additional penalty)

A measure added to the fine, such as closing a business or publishing the penalty.

Caducidad del procedimiento (proceeding expiration)

The penalty proceeding ends if no decision is issued within the set period, here nine months.

Interdicción de acceso al juego (gambling access ban)

A legal ban on taking part in gambling, recorded in an official registry.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries