UNAD (Union of Associations and Entities for the Care of Drug Addicts), Spain’s national network dedicated to addiction treatment, has firmly reiterated its demand for a complete prohibition of all gambling and betting advertising.
The organization argues that any promotional messaging for gaming is fundamentally incompatible with the nation’s public health and addiction prevention policies, asserting that such communications actively encourage potentially harmful and addictive behaviors.
The network’s renewed calls coincided with World Gambling-Free Day, during which UNAD highlighted the complexity of non-substance addictions, which include gambling, betting, and video gaming. Unlike substance dependencies, these afflictions often leave no immediate visible physical traces, complicating early detection and intervention.
Because these activities are often highly normalized within society, individuals are frequently identified only when the addiction has become chronic, significantly escalating the psychological, social, and economic damage to the patient and their family.
According to data from the latest UNAD study, ‘Profile of People Served in the UNAD Network,’ 1,304 individuals sought treatment for non-substance addictions across 24 affiliated entities. Notably, 24% of these patients were women, typically over 49, employed Spanish nationals with dependent children.
Slot machines were their primary in-person addiction, while video gaming dominated their online concerns.
The male patient demographic consisted primarily of employed Spanish nationals aged 34-41 without children; their main in-person addiction was also slot machines, followed by sports betting, which also led their online addictive behaviors.
While UNAD acknowledges the regulatory progress made, particularly citing the General Directorate for Gaming Regulation’s draft resolution to mandate technical specifications for messaging about the harmful effects of gambling, the network insists this is insufficient.
UNAD maintains that comprehensive prevention requires the cessation of all commercial promotion, both digital and physical, to prevent advertising from reinforcing potentially addictive conduct.
The network has also urged the urgent approval of new regulations establishing stricter deposit limits for gaming platforms to provide crucial protection for at-risk individuals.
UNAD (Union of Associations and Entities for the Care of Drug Addicts):
“Being so socially normalised, these addictions are detected when they are already more chronic and the psychological, social and economic damage is much greater.”
Luciano Poyato, UNAD president:
“The promotion of gambling is incompatible with prevention,”
