Spain pursues loss limits per online gambling sessions

The Spanish gambling regulator is looking to introduce new restrictions for the online gambling sector designed to limit the amount of money a player can lose in a single session.

Recommendations from the Direccion General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) have been put out for consultation for a broad range of measures such as obliging players to set time and spend limits before each session begins.

Under the new regime, these details must be entered manually each session without the aid of saved prior limits or a drop down of predetermined suggested caps. Players should also be offered the option to temporarily restrict access to the site if the current session is cut off due to them reaching either of their determined limits. Any session continuing within 60 minutes of the last must be accompanied by a reminder of past losses.

Furthermore, new rules are also being proposed around in-game messaging, with at least one banner alert every 30 seconds reminding the customer how much money they have lost.

Operators will also be required to present customers with a monthly report of their activity, including the times visiting the sites, money deposited, lost and won. And players who bet beyond a threshold deemed “intensive” will be struck off from using their credit card.

The new “safety first approach” to gambling regulation comes as the Ministry of Consumer Affairs ramps up its modernisation of the country’s 2011 Gambling Law.

Only days prior the regulator also announced the unification and reformation of Spain’s self-exclusion registry which had, until now, been fragmented across the 17 autonomous communities.