Spain’s push to tighten gambling advertising rules has reached an important checkpoint, with public consultation closing on 22 June.
The proposals target some of the channels that regulators around the world are now watching most closely: celebrities, influencers, customer-acquisition bonuses and gambling visibility in search results. For Australia, the Spanish process is worth following because the same questions are already landing here through sport, social media and offshore casino promotion.
Why Spain Is Rewriting Its Gambling Ad Rules
Spain’s gambling regulator, the DGOJ, opened the consultation in May as part of a wider plan to update the country’s Gambling Act. The law is now 15 years old, and the regulator argues it needs to catch up with online gambling, digital marketing and the way operators now reach customers.
The headline proposal is a renewed attempt to restrict celebrities and influencers in gambling advertising. Spain tried parts of this before, but the Supreme Court partially struck down earlier advertising restrictions in 2024, finding some measures lacked the proper legal basis. This time, the government is trying to build the rules into primary law rather than relying only on decree-level restrictions.
That legal reset matters. It shows how hard gambling ad reform can be once operators, media companies and trade bodies start pushing back. Writing tough rules is one job. Making them survive court is another.
The influencer issue is the most relevant part for Australia. Gambling promotion no longer needs a TV slot to reach a large audience. It can arrive through a livestream, a podcast read, a short video, a tipster account or a personality making a betting brand look like part of their lifestyle. The ad often feels softer because it comes through someone the audience already follows.
That is exactly why regulators are getting nervous.
Spain’s consultation also looks at customer-acquisition bonuses. These offers are a major part of online gambling marketing, especially when operators are trying to pull in new users quickly. The problem is that bonuses can make gambling feel lower risk than it is, particularly when the real terms sit behind rollover rules, expiry limits or minimum odds.
Another proposal would limit how gambling content appears in organic search results, unless users are actively looking for betting or gaming products. That is a more technical but potentially important idea. Regulators are starting to understand that search visibility can function like advertising, even when nobody has bought a traditional ad placement.
What Australia Can Take From Spain’s Approach
Australia has its own version of this problem. ACMA blocks illegal offshore gambling sites, but operators and affiliates can still appear in search results, social media posts and review pages. If a user searches for casino content, the line between information, promotion and illegal access can get messy quickly.
Spain’s reform push also includes broader player-protection ideas, including standardised tools to detect risky gambling behaviour and stronger responsible gambling warnings. That follows a wider European trend: regulators are not only asking where gambling ads appear, but also what operators know about a customer before they keep marketing to them.
There is no final law yet. The consultation closing date is not the finish line. The government still has to process submissions, draft the final text and move it through the legislative process. Operators and industry groups will almost certainly keep arguing over proportionality, commercial freedom and enforcement.
Still, Spain’s direction is clear. The country wants more control over the digital gambling funnel, from the first search result to the influencer post to the bonus offer that gets a customer to sign up.
For Australian readers, the lesson is simple. Gambling advertising reform is no longer only about stopping ads during sport. The harder fight is online, where promotion can look like content and the person selling the product may not look like an advertiser at all.
Spain is trying to draw that line again. If it succeeds, Australia will have another model to study. If it fails in court again, the warning will be just as useful.