Spanish sports betting has made a strong comeback, following the lifting of the country’s emergency restrictions.

On March 14th, the Spanish government enforced the State of Alarm. This meant all economic activity came to a standstill, including sporting competitions. The situation lasted for over three months, up until June 21st, and in that period, a prohibition on gambling advertising was also in place countrywide. 

With neither national nor European sporting competitions in motion, and severe restrictions on ads that were only allowed to be shown four hours per day during the lockdown – specifically between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m – operators and affiliates operating in Spain could not develop any campaigns to attract bettors. 

In May, we saw the comeback of football in Europe, kicking off mid-month with the German Bundesliga. Since then, national leagues on the continent have resumed operations gradually, with the exception of the French Ligue 1. La Liga returned in June, but even so, the betting operators could not yet find any reason to cheer, as the State of Alarm was to remain in force for ten more days.

Change of course  

The plan was to lift the advertising ban on the 21st of June, the day when the State of Alarm ended in Spain. 

That was not the case, however, as ads were allowed again on June 11th – at any time throughout the day – coinciding with Sevilla FC vs Real Betis, the first match of LaLiga upon resumption.

The decision of lifting the ban ahead of schedule came from the office of Alberto Garzon, current Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs. When choosing to enforce the prohibition, back in March, he declared, “We are approving the banning of gambling advertising with the aim of protecting the most vulnerable during the lockdown, a period when overexposure to these sorts of ads threatens to create a public health problem with gambling”. 

But Garzon decided to end the prohibition as soon as Spanish football resumed. The gambling operators within the country received the decision with open arms and there was a big increase in interest from the Spanish population. 

This is clearly illustrated in the case of Miscasasdeapuestas.com, a bookmaker comparison site run by the affiliate company Leadstar Media. The site recorded its best numbers of the football season so far, as the resumption of La Liga together with the lifting of the advertising ban paved the way for players to return.

Commenting on recent weeks Eskil Kvarnström, CEO of Leadstar Media, stated: 

“In just twenty days, we’ve seen our numbers increase twofold compared to our best month in the 2019-20 campaign, and we expect further significant growth also in July as it will bring a full month of Spanish top-level football”. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Leadstar’s success since the lifting of the state of emergency gambling advertising ban clearly shows there was plenty of pent-up enthusiasm for Spanish football betting after three months in lockdown!

However, despite the good news for Spanish-facing sports betting affiliates, let’s spare a thought for Spanish football clubs and betting operators, who recently learned that, from the next La Liga season, all football gambling sponsorships, including shirt deals and naming rights, will be completely banned. 

Mind you, that may actually be good news for affiliates, as operators could well become more reliant on them for customer acquisition. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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