Spain orders state-owned companies to reduce sports marketing 

Spain’s state-run lottery company must reduce the amount it spends on sports sponsorship and marketing.

Spain. The Spanish government has ordered state-owned companies to reduce their marketing spend on sports. The 2022 Budget Law orders companies including SELAE, the state-run lottery society, to spend no more than 2 per cent of accumulated net profits on sports partnerships.

The same rules will apply to Spain’s rail network RENFE and the post office. The measure is intended to help tighten costs as Spain aims to return state companies to profitability. Spanish monopolies must submit all existing or planned sports sponsorship/marketing agreements to the Ministry of Finance for approval.

SELAE, which makes a profit, sponsors Spain’s Olympic and Paralympic teams, however during the Covid-19 pandemic it reduced its sports sponsorship budget by 10 per cent to €4.9m.

CEMDE, the Spanish Sports Marketing Committee, criticised the decision, which comes after the Spanish government passed legislation banning gambling sponsorship in football. It said that events run by Spanish Federations such as La Vuelta (cycling), Spanish basketball or the Royal Handball League may be left without their main sponsors.

Meanwhile, Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs is now looking at whether to include loot boxes and NFTs in gambling legislation.