The Spanish Joint Commission for the Follow-up of the Code of Conduct on Commercial Communications of Gambling Activities has been held and a proposal to amend that Code has been agreed.

The initiative, initially proposed by JDigital, is a reinforcement of the current standards for advertising in the sector derived from the Code of Conduct, highlighting the fact that the approved amendments will now apply to all types of commercial communications offered in Spain, including, by therefore, to audiovisual communication services and information society services.

The amendments affect three ethical norms of the Code of Conduct: those related to the principle of truthfulness, the principle of responsible gambling and the protection of minors. This proposal introduces specific limitations applicable to bonuses and advertising promotions, indicating, among other changes, that these may not be disseminated within the live broadcast of sporting, horse riding or other competitive events, and limiting welcome bonuses used in commercial communications about most of the games regulated to the maximum amount of 200 euros. Likewise, commercial communications of this type of activities may not include, for most of the games, the presence of active athletes performing gaming activities or prescribing them; neither can they be carried out by children under 25 or by celebrities who participate in children’s spaces in the media or whose activity is focused on minors. 

In addition, in audiovisual advertising, the warning logos on responsible gambling and the prohibition of playing under 18 years of age will have more visibility, when a standardized full-screen warning is included in each advertisement at the end of the advertising piece or, alternatively, a band at the bottom of the image throughout the ad.

The proposal approved by the Monitoring Commission will enter into force for all those adhering to the Code of Conduct on January 15, 2020. A consolidated version of the Code of Conduct is attached to this news, which already incorporates the changes approved by the Monitoring Commission in the aforementioned meeting of November 14, 2019.