Spain Gambling Regulation

The promotion of online gaming activities falls under the general advertising rules outlined in Law 34/1988. Any gambling-related advertisements should display “play responsibly” messages to remind residents to keep their gaming activities in check.

With that said, the Spanish Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzon, plans to introduce several restrictive measures to rein in gaming-related advertisements in the country. The changes were proposed in February 2020 to combat the rising rate of gambling addiction among Spanish residents. The planned measures are highly rigorous.

These include restrictions on televised gambling ads of up to 80%, prohibiting operators from using celebrities to promote their products, and a ban on promotions that offer free-bet bonuses to new customers. The proposed amendments could restrict gambling ads on radio and television to a four-hour window starting at 1 AM.

Sponsorships will be allowed as long as teams do not feature gambling logos on small-sized kits designed for children. Free play is also under fire. The free demo versions of casino games should use the same Random Number Generator as their real-money counterparts.

This is in response to the practice of some casinos that use RNGs with higher win rates in the free-play versions of their games. Time will tell whether these changes in Spain’s gambling advertising policies will come into effect. Minister Garzon has yet to give a specific timeframe for their approval and implementation.

Locally authorized gambling operators process payments for Spanish residents in line with the security guidelines set forth by the local regulator. Spanish players can register their accounts in EUR, the country’s official currency since early 2002.

All accounts undergo obligatory identity verification and are protected with industry-standard SSL encryption. Due to regulatory requirements, Spain-licensed casinos automatically enforce the following limits on initial deposits: €600 per day, €1,500 per week, and €3,000 per month.

Players can upgrade these limits after verification. Customers may use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to process online casino payments, provided their gaming accounts are denominated in EUR.

There are no known cases of players being individually prosecuted by the Spanish government for gambling at unauthorized offshore casinos. With that in mind, the local regulator DGOJ is determined to suppress illegal gambling in the country.

Providing gambling services to Spain’s residents without a valid local license is considered a serious infringement under Spanish law. As such, it is subject to hefty fines that range from €1 million to €5 million. In addition to monetary penalties, the Spanish authorities also restrict access to unauthorized online casinos and payment methods.

Spanish law requires players to declare any gambling-related earnings in their personal income tax returns. Gambling losses are also deductible, up to the amount of winnings. As for online casino operators, they must pay the so-called Impuesto de Actividades de Juego (IAJ or Tax on Gambling Activities in English).

It amounts to 20% of their gross gaming revenue under Law 13/2011. The percentage is cut in half to 10% for gambling operators based in Melilla and Ceuta, both of which are autonomous territories located on the African northwest coast. These taxes are paid quarterly.

All forms of allowed online gambling in Spain fall within the remit of the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego or DGOJ), which oversees the sector on a state level. Integrated within the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, this entity regulates interactive gaming activities and issues licenses to approved operators.

To legally enter the Spanish market, operators must apply for and obtain a local license from the Directorate General. The authority issues two types of permits: general and singular.

The singular licenses cover several individual verticals, including table games like blackjack, baccarat, and roulette; online slots; bingo games; poker; pooled sports betting; fixed-odds sports betting; exchange betting; and horse race betting.

Licenses are granted to approved operators after a tender, which can be held either officially or at the request of interested gambling companies. Approved operators are then added to the registry of the Spanish regulatory authority. Companies are approved only on the condition that they meet all technical requirements along with various conditions related to fraud prevention and financial operations.

Another condition of the regulator stipulates that licenses are granted only to public limited or limited liability companies, registered within a member state of the European Economic Area (EEA). When entering the website of a licensed gaming operator, Spanish residents should be redirected to its .es domain.

Authorized operators must pay a €38,000 fee for technical reports along with a registration fee of €2,500. Those seeking general licenses for betting and casino games must have at least €100,000 in capital to request the permit. Candidates are approved or turned down within six months.

Only operators who have obtained general licenses can apply for singular (also called “specific”) licenses. Each general license expires after ten years, but operators can renew it. As for singular licenses, their validity ranges from one to five years, depending on the type of product or game on offer.