SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
French online poker operator Winamax has confirmed that it will continue to serve as official shirt sponsor of La Liga football club Granada CF, despite inbound despite imminent changes to Spain’s federal advertising code which will prohibit gambling sponsorships.
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Launching its Spanish online poker room in 2019, Winamax announced newly promoted Granada CF as its first Spanish market sponsorship.
Recognised as La Liga’s smallest club, Granada outperformed all expectations, finishing in 7th place and qualifying for European football competitions for the first time in the club’s history.
Updating, local media Winamax confirmed that it would renew its shirt sponsorship of ‘Los Nazaríes’ for a further two seasons, becoming the latest Spanish licensed incumbent to declare its plans to maintain a La Liga presence.
Inbound from October, Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs will implement a blanket ban on gambling sponsorships of sports clubs, sanctioned by the federally approved Royal Decree on Advertising – a mandate which is currently being reviewed by the European Commission following a series of modifications to the approved law.
Spanish licensed bookmakers and media owners have moved to challenge the government’s amendments, through an EU high court appeal filed by online gambling trade association Jdigital.
The EU-level appeal states that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had violated its position of authority by radically altering Decree laws that had been formally approved and agreed on by Spanish licensed incumbents.
Leading the challenge, Jdigital underlines that the Spanish government has breached European business laws and fair market practices, as its last-minute amendments will radically alter market conditions, without the government providing any formal consultation on changes to licensed incumbents.
