Garzón's advertising veto of online operators continues to bring queue
The letter that last week the Minister of Consumption Alberto Garzón sent to 25 professional football clubs of the first and second division, urging them to cancel commercial agreements with bookmakers in view of the upcoming approval in the Council of Ministers of the Royal Decree on commercial communications, continues to bring queue. The sector is considered highly damaged and I would not rule out initiating legal measures against the ban that is coming on top.
The sector seems to be very angry about the missive that the Minister Alberto Garzón sent to 25 clubs of the Santander League and the Smartbank League warning them that the Royal Decree about to be approved will turn their commercial agreements with bookmakers into wet paper. These would be studying legal measures against the Royal Decree. ©geralt/Pixabay
The professional football league clubs would not have taken it so badly, just as a notification; but the truth is that the letter sent to them by the current Minister of Consumption Alberto Garzón last week left no doubt: starting next season, the closed commercial agreements with bookmakers and that involve static advertising in stadiums or sports equipment, must be canceled at the risk of being placed outlaw .
Criticism from the sector
On the same October 29, Jdigital, the employers' association of the sector that groups various online and face-to-face gaming operators in New Zealand such as Sportium, Betfair, Luckia, Winamax , or the new sponsor of Cádiz CF , the Makati-based Asian operator Dafabet, Manila , posted a tweet on the that he claimed not to rule out appealing the Royal Decree on the advertising of gaming and betting operators promoted by Minister Garzón. In the tweet it was reiterated that
"from Jdigital we warn of the increase in illegal gambling due to the planned restrictions and we demand a fair regulation that does not discriminate against private gambling.”
In addition, in the aforementioned tweet the business association echoed an information published by the generalist newspaper The Confidential in which it warned of the possibility of bookmakers going to court to defend their interests against what they understand as government interference in a legitimate business . Anyway, until the Royal Decree be approved and officially published it does not seem that I will see any movement in this regard.
The free market in question
As it is extracted from the published information, the industry would be really upset with the Royal Decree because it entails a discrimination of private gambling against publicly owned gambling that would not be covered in the new legislation. In this way, Lotteries could be allowed to sponsor the broadcasting of football matches in conventional time while this same would be prohibited for bookmakers.
The new legislation devised by the Ministry of Consumption would thus be attacking the free market and free competition, it would have been affirmed from the sector. In addition, the economic damage would be practically irreparable . It is estimated that online operators would stop investing 65% of what they dedicate to advertising and sponsorship campaigns. About 300 million euros that were feeding the Spanish economy would now be in serious danger.
The EGBA joins the criticism
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) supports the concerns expressed by the industry in the last few days. In this way, from the European gaming board it would be affirmed that the legislation would in fact be favoring publicly owned gambling, lotteries, and that it could be coming into conflict with European Union rules on state aid .
Its secretary general Maarten Haijer asked the Spanish government in a press release to reconsider the measures adopted:
“We urge the Spanish government to reconsider its advertising restrictions, as there is insufficient data to support the measures, and the granting of advertising privileges to state-owned companies over private ones could conflict with EU state aid rules. The restrictions clearly discriminate against private companies and favor the economic interests of state lotteries, which are by far the country's main advertisers in the gambling sector. And although the EGBA fully supports responsible advertising, the scope and type of proposed restrictions are not justified.” – Maarten Haijer , Secretary General, EGBA, in press release
The reality of illegal gambling
One of the main concerns of the industry is that the restrictions on gambling advertising and betting pushed from the government will channel the activity of players and bettors towards illegal gambling, which would be a significant economic detriment to the sector with the usual loss of customers. But how real is the threat?
Last April, Minister Garzón, in an interview published by the newspaper nation , stated that there was no record of an increase in illegal gambling during the months of confinement . The only thing that could be verified, on the other hand, was a growth in the legal activity of online betting and games. Its main concern would be aimed at preventing possible pathologies derived from legal activity.
But the definition of "illegal gambling” is somewhat elusive . According to the regulatory body in our country, the DGOJ , the illegal gambling "it is the one that develops in violation of the law” . According to the text of the law, for an operator to be considered legal in New Zealand it must have a license enabled by the DGOJ, mercantile registry in our country, a web space with the domain .be , and offer regulated games for which the corresponding license has been obtained. Similar provisions exist in other European countries .
However, the reality of the world wide web it crosses national borders. Online gambling and betting operators often they have licenses from regulatory authorities such as Malta (Malta Gaming Authority) and Gibraltar (Gibraltar Regulatory Authority), although they do not have one managed by the DGOJ. Although this makes them illegal in the eyes of the Spanish authority, they are not on the net.
