Spain gambling advertising compliance brief

Licensing and permitted advertising

ICLG's 2026 Spain chapter identifies DGOJ as the regulator for online betting and casino gambling, including slots and table games. Land-based gambling is regulated by the competent Autonomous Region or Autonomous City. Licensed online casino, sports betting and poker are reported as legal.

• ICLG states that audiovisual and electronic communications providers, mass media, advertising agencies and advertising networks are liable for promoting unauthorised gambling.
• Agency check: verify the operator and the advertised product against DGOJ licensing information before accepting a campaign.
• A gambling licence should not be treated as evidence that every advertising channel or placement is permitted; detailed advertising permissions are not established by these extracts.

Audience and age rules

The supplied Spain market guide reports a minimum gambling age of 18. This is a participation threshold, not verification of the technical audience controls required for advertising.

• Advertising-specific age-verification methods, audience-composition thresholds and targeting requirements are unconfirmed.
• DGOJ maintains the General Register of Gaming Access Bans (RGIAJ). The extracts do not establish advertising suppression requirements for registered people.
• Mandatory 18+ label wording, size and placement are unconfirmed.

Creative and content rules

The results identify Royal Decree 958/2020 as a framework imposing gambling advertising restrictions, but also report that the Supreme Court subsequently annulled some restrictions. The extracts do not provide a complete account of the surviving creative rules.

• Current restrictions on celebrities, influencers and particular creative claims are unconfirmed.
• A reported DGOJ proposal would replace general responsible gambling messages with clearer warnings about gambling risks and the prohibition on minors participating.
• Adoption of those warning proposals, their commencement date and their exact text, dimensions or duration are unconfirmed.

Channel-specific rules

Keep television scheduling separate from digital and outdoor permissions. The supplied results do not justify extending a television rule automatically to every video or screen-based placement.

• Display: advertising agencies and networks face liability for promoting unauthorised gambling. Current banner placement, contextual targeting, retargeting and social-media eligibility rules are unconfirmed.
• Video/CTV: academic and news results report that television gambling advertising is restricted to 01:00–05:00. One news extract also mentions YouTube, but the current scope across online video, on-demand services and CTV is unconfirmed.
• DOOH/outdoor: current Spanish rules for billboards, digital outdoor screens, transport inventory and proximity to schools are unconfirmed.
• A 2021 report describes prohibitions involving sports broadcasts, team jerseys and stadiums. Their precise current scope following later court decisions is unconfirmed.
• The supplied Lisbon outdoor advertising guidance concerns Portugal and does not establish rules for Spain.

Promotions and affiliates

An academic result reports that promotions can be addressed to gamblers who consent. Other results describe historical welcome-bonus restrictions, subsequent court intervention and further proposals. These extracts do not resolve the full current promotional framework.

• Current welcome-bonus eligibility, customer-tenure conditions and permissible acquisition offers are unconfirmed.
• Consent alone should not be treated as confirmation that a particular promotional offer is lawful.
• Affiliate-specific registration, disclosure, remuneration and placement requirements are unconfirmed.
• The verified liability warning for advertising agencies and networks remains relevant when assessing affiliate or intermediary arrangements; the extracts do not define liability for every affiliate model.

Recent and upcoming changes

The supplied results report an April 2024 court ruling relaxing some advertising restrictions. A legal commentary identifies the Supreme Court's intervention as partial, so it should not be read as removing the entire advertising framework.

• A report dated 26 May 2026 describes a DGOJ consultation on celebrity and influencer advertising, bonuses and search visibility. Final adoption and commencement are unconfirmed.
• Separate reporting describes proposed mandatory harm warnings. No verified implementation date is supplied.
• A secondary market guide reports plans to amend Law 13/2011 to reinstate advertising restrictions; enactment and the resulting rules are unconfirmed.
• Before campaign approval, obtain current legal confirmation of the surviving rules and the status of these proposals. This is an agency recommendation, not an additional statutory requirement.

Sources

• ICLG — Gambling laws and regulations 2026: Spain
• DGOJ — Official website
• DGOJ — Licensed operators, linked in the supplied academic result
• Gambling Maps — Spain market guide and minimum age
• PMC — Impact of Spanish gambling regulations on online gambling behaviour and marketing strategies
• Osborne Clarke — Advertising framework after the Supreme Court's partial annulment
• European Gaming — Consultation on celebrity and influencer advertising, 26 May 2026
• Public Gaming — Proposed gambling warning rules
• Yogonet — Historical advertising restrictions, 31 August 2021
• Covers — Supreme Court rollback and reported video scheduling restrictions