A new royal decree approved yesterday by the Government – and which will enter into force within six months – considers people who accumulate net losses equal to or greater than 600 euros (limited to 200 euros in the case of under 25 years of age) within a period of three consecutive weeks. This standard contains thirty measures to prevent problematic gambling behaviour, mainly among young people between the ages of 18 and 25.
In this way, the law will also reinforce the protection of other profiles that already have intensive or risky gambling behaviors, according to Consumption, which also considers those who have requested restriction of access to their personal data to be part of the special protection and vulnerability group. gambling account (self-excluded) and those who have registered in the General Registry of Gambling Access Bans (RGIAJ).
However, the royal decree also contemplates general protection measures. Thus, people who log in to play instantaneous or pre-drawn lottery games must establish in advance the maximum time and the amount to play, without the possibility of being modified during the course of it. The websites of online betting and gaming pages will have to send an informative message that must be read every hour in order to continue playing. These messages will contain information about your gaming behavior during the session, such as the time played, the amounts wagered or the net losses produced.
The rule will also oblige operators not to accept credit cards from players considered vulnerable as long as they maintain this dynamic (they can only use nominative means of payment and that they own) and they will have to have a telephone help service for risk behaviors .
Companies will be prohibited from sending promotional activities to young people between the ages of 18 and 25 for purposes other than gaming, such as invitations to matches or tickets to shows. Nor will they be able to include them in loyalty programs. Messages that encourage intensive play such as "almost hit" or "were close" at the end of a game are also prohibited.
Self-excluded and self-prohibited persons will not receive commercial communications either and, in the case of participants who register in the RGIAJ, they will be prohibited from accessing their accounts, deposits and participations within a maximum period of 48 hours.
Failure to comply with the new measures will result in fines of up to 50 million euros for very serious offenses and the loss of the license. For serious infractions, the fines amount to one million euros and can lead to the suspension of the license for six months.
