Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs has put a total fine of €3.5 million on 26 licensed gambling operators, including Betfair, 888, and Codere.On November 25, 2025, the...
Spain requires gambling advertisements to include tobacco-style health warnings
In order to align gambling messaging with tobacco warning standards, the Spanish government has proposed new law that requires online gambling operators to visibly post health-style warnings on addiction risks.
Internet gambling companies will shortly have to plaster prominent, cigarette-style warnings across their websites and online adverts, according to plans laid out by Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs, and Agenda 2030. During a “Safer Gambling” forum in Madrid, Social Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy published the new regulations, which would be enforced in accordance with Royal Decree 958/2020.
Operators must substitute less explicit warnings, such as “gambling addiction is a risk of gambling,” with more explicit ones, such as “play responsibly.”
- “There is a 75% probability that you will lose when you gamble.”
- “All gamblers’ losses are four times greater than their victories.”
These notices will be displayed on social media, mobile apps, and websites.
Social Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy stated:
“The responsibility should not fall on users but on the authorities, who have the democratic duty to ensure that the environments they access are safe.”
Statistics from the Ministry of Health’s National Drugs Plan, which revealed that 82% of addiction treatments in 2022 had a gambling connection, were cited by the ministry as evidence. Officials emphasized that vulnerable people are overrepresented in gaming.
The action was opposed by industry organization JDigital, which claimed the warnings were “difficult to justify” and that the tobacco comparisons were unjustified. Under wider consumer protection law reforms, the government is set to reintroduce prohibitions on youth-targeted incentives and celebrity sponsorship.
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