On Tuesday, the cabinet approved amendments to Balearic gambling legislation. This will limit the number of new gambling and betting establishments and prohibit their advertising.
Vice-President Juan Pedro Yllanes said after the meeting that the public has "told us that gambling advertising is very harmful and causes compulsive gambling". The regulatory change will affect the advertising of casinos, bingo halls, gambling venues and betting shops; this will include social media advertising. He explained that it will not affect specific activities, such as trotting.
Pending parliamentary approval of this legislative reform, there is a moratorium on the granting of new licences for gambling and betting premises. The government took action as the Balearic Islands had the third highest number of establishments per one million people in the country. In 2014 there were 90. By 2019 there were 154. Thirty-six have since closed or been closed; some town halls have also adopted measures to limit the number of premises.
The law will establish a minimum distance in Palma of 500 metres between establishments and 250 metres in the rest of the Balearics.