Spain’s gambling regulatory chief says “social alarm” supports the government’s plans to dramatically restrict online gambling operators’ ability to promote their products to Spanish bettors.

On Monday, Mikel Arana, who was appointed head of Spain’s Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) gambling regulatory body in May, gave his first public interview in that role to local media outlet El Diario. The discussion largely focused on Spain’s plans to restrict advertising to a five-hour overnight window and prohibit sports sponsorships.

Arana said Spain was already suffering from an “excess of publicity” of gambling products prior to the country’s COVID-19 lockdown but the enforced confinement of Spaniards of all ages convinced the masses that advertising levels were “a real exaggeration” of what was desired.

Arana justified the government’s plan to eliminate welcome bonuses because “the main percentage of new players is the age range of 18 to 21 years,” whose personalities are “unfinished” and are therefore “more likely to react to advertising and have problematic consumption.”