[mkdf_dropcaps type=”normal” color=”#f55549″ background_color=””]S[/mkdf_dropcaps]
pain’s top-flight football competition, La Liga, and 17 of its 20 clubs, are facing a major sponsorship shake-up, after Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs announced plans to heavily limit marketing opportunities for the gambling industry.

A report from El Confidencial stated Alberto Garzón, who is in charge of the Ministry, is pushing for gambling advertisements across TV, radio and all video media outlets to be reduced to one hour per day, strictly between 1am and 5am, with a push for a complete ban on gambling sponsorships on all kits and stadiums.

The attempt to reduce the advertisements of betting companies in Spain could see all 17 clubs with commercial partnerships with betting companies lose these partnerships altogether, with eight of those clubs also having betting brands displayed on their kits.

This move would affect all La Liga clubs besides Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid, and Villareal, who have no ties to betting companies.

The league itself, however, has a commercial partnership with Sportium, who serve as the league’s official sportsbook, a major partner.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs is hopeful the move to strengthen restrictions on betting advertisements will address the “shared concern about the increase of gambling in the lives of young generations as a form of leisure”.

The Ministry also announced plans to prohibit gambling companies from being naming rights partners with any professional sporting organisation according to El Confidencial, who cited official documents stating, “no sponsorship activities may be carried out that involve substituting or adding to the name of a team or sports competition or of any other entity outside the sector of gambling and betting, the name or commercial name of an operator”.

The measures would be a further extension of the restrictions that Spain initiated in February, including a ban of gambling advertisements before 8pm, with a limit on sponsorships involving gambling companies for logos on children’s shirts.