Royal Decree protecting youth from gambling approved in Spain

“The Royal Decree on Responsible Gambling Environments” has been approved for enactment by The Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The Royal Decree contains over 30 measures regarding responsible gaming.

Due to be implemented in 17 autonomous regions of Spain, the ministry is intending these measures to protect individuals aged 18 to 25 from engagement or entrapment in risky or excessive problem gambling behaviours.

This regulatory action comes as a result of the 2020 Royal Decree of Commercial Communications, which stipulated a significant move towards more stringent gambling advertising regulations.

In order to carry out the decree’s objectives, it states several safeguards aimed at reducing the frequency and occurrence of hazardous and damaging practices, that have been proven to give rise to problematic and pathological behaviours in numerous cases.

These will see all licensed online casino operators in Spain instigate new “duty of care” regulations. This includes developing risk profiles for their clients as well as closely monitoring specific types of users.

Youths between the ages of 18 and 25 who are deemed particularly vulnerable should be protected from inappropriate messaging and inappropriate gambling promotional material. Although this is the decree’s main focus other safeguards have also been placed for other high risk groups.

The risk profiles will consist of several data points, which stipulate users who suffer a net loss of €600, or €200 for those under the age of 25, over a three-week period should be classified as intensive gamblers.

Additionally, players who have made use of safer gambling limits on their gambling accounts or players who have registered with the national-exclusion register should be protected from enticing messaging and promotional material intended to persuade recipients.

The Spanish government has taken a stance to curb the concerns of their people in regards to problem gambling, particularly in the defence of young people. The main factor thought to be driving these exponential risks is the ease of access to online gambling.

From this point of view, the decree has taken an individual focus to these gambling issues. Specific gamblers who have been identified by the aforementioned measures, will receive a warning message accompanied by a monthly summary of their gambling activity.

If a response is not returned within 72 hours, their account will be suspended. Gamblers will also be barred from the usage of credit cards either to fund their accounts or participate in any VIP programs.

The problem in marketing

Marketing will also come under regulatory scrutiny as instances such as marketing teams sending promotions to anyone under the age of 25 who has never interacted with the operator, will be strictly prohibited.

This measure is particularly poignant as promotional messaging from gambling operators has made the headlines recently, with Paddy Power, a UK based gambling provider, receiving a significant fine for a relevant offence. The operator was charged with sending promotional material in the form of a text message to several previous users who had chosen to participate in a national self-exclusion scheme. The UK-based bookie has since claimed this was accidental, publishing a public apology.

This was dangerous in the additional sense that the marketing team at Paddy Power had any kind of access to communicate with individuals who had explicitly stated they did not wish to gamble. A fact that means their storage of at least this particular data was illicit.

The state of the gambling population in Spain seems particularly shocking when viewed from a statistical standpoint. In a study conducted by an addiction welfare clinic, problem gambling among the completely illegal age group of 14 to 18-year-olds in Spain is as high as 3.4%.

Due to such alarming revelations, a new budget increased to $2.3 million will be allocated to enforce the new decree, with fines up to €50 million to be enforced along with the right to review and revoke an operator’s licence afforded to the regulatory bodies concerned.

This significant step forward will come into effect within 6 months of their publication in the Official State Gazette, with some regulations allowing operators a 12-month transition period.

Despite coming under fire from such entities as JDigital for making already stringent laws even less flexible, this Royal Decree can be seen as an incredibly important step not only to defend problem gamblers, of which there is an increasing global population, from the pitfalls and dangers of problem gambling, but also as a means to secure Spain’s gambling industry itself.

Creating a clear and concise guide for providers to follow, especially when considering problem gambling as perhaps the most damaging feature for those against the industry’s practices, will allow compliance and ultimately a fair defence of operator’s activities when acting within the law, further securing and cementing the sector’s position as a legitimate industry with effective guardrails for their consumers.

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