La Liga gambling ad ban lifted

La Liga will resume today with gambling sponsorship visible on shirts as Spain lifts gambling ad restrictions – for now.

Spain.- Top-flight football will resume with visible gambling sponsorship on kits today (Thursday) after Spain passed a decree to lift its Covid-19 state of emergency.

It means Sevilla will be able to play in its Marathon Bet-sponsored strip as La Liga action resumes with a clásico at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.

Spain introduced a series of restrictions on gambling advertising and promotion on March 31 as part of a battery of emergency measures introduced at the height of its Covid-19 lockdown. 

Originally due to run until June 21, restrictions included a ban on bonuses, discounts, free bets and bet multiplier offers, individual email communications, direct advertising on social media and all advertising in sports. Advertising on television and radio was restricted to four hours between 1am and 5am.

The restrictions would have meant that several La Liga teams, including Sevilla, Valencia, Granada, Mallorca, and Leganés, would have had to cover up betting operator logos on their kits as football resumed this week.

The measures have now all been revoked, which allows gambling advertising and promotion to return to pre-lockdown conditions, but Spain already announced back in February a consultation on proposals that would reintroduce some of the same restrictions.

These include TV and radio advertising being restricted to between 1am and 5am, with an exception during sports broadcasts shown after 8pm provided they do not mention promotions, bonuses, live odds or direct calls to action such as “play now.”

Operators would also be prohibited from using endorsements from public figures, acquisition bonuses would be limited to €100 and email advertising campaigns would need to be checked against Spain’s self-exclusion database.