Spain has made good on its threat to prohibit most forms of online gambling marketing, a move that critics say will fail to achieve the government’s goal of protecting consumers.

On Tuesday, Spain’s Council of Ministers approved the Royal Decree on gambling advertising, which will restrict commercials on television/radio/YouTube to a narrow window of 1am-5am, eliminate gambling sponsorship of sports bodies and limit operators offering bonuses only to customers who have already made at least three deposits.

The new rules will take effect on a staggered basis, with existing football sponsorship deals recently grandfathered through the end of the current season. Existing marketing campaigns featuring athletes or other ‘famous’ figures will be allowed to extend until April 1, 2021, after which celebrity endorsements will no longer be permitted.

Similarly, existing online advertising contracts with third-party portals will be allowed to continue through May 1, 2021. After that, operators will only be allowed to promote via their own gambling sites, although promos can still be pushed out to operators’ social media followers provided those platforms employ age-related filters.