Spain’s online gambling market has changed sharply since Law 13/2011 created the national framework for licensed online betting and gaming. What began as a tightly regulated market is now a larger and more established business, with regulators still focused on consumer protection while market growth plays a bigger role.
The shift is clear in the numbers. Spain’s online gross gaming revenue rose to €1.45 billion in 2024, up 17.61% from a year earlier, while active players increased 21.71% to nearly 2 million. By the third quarter of 2025, online GGR had reached €405.36 million, up 16.49% year on year.
A market built on rules first
Spain’s 2011 law gave the country a national legal structure for online gambling and put the Directorate-General for the Regulation of Gambling, or DGOJ, at the centre of licensing, supervision and sanctions. In the early years, the focus was on setting rules, bringing operators into a controlled market and building a system the state could monitor closely.
A second phase came in 2020, when Spain tightened gambling advertising rules through Royal Decree 958/2020. The decree placed heavy limits on gambling ads, including late-night broadcast windows, showing that the market would not be allowed to grow without stronger safeguards around promotion and responsible gambling.
That stricter approach remained in place in 2024 even after Spain’s Supreme Court struck down parts of the decree. Some restrictions were removed, but the broader regulatory path stayed the same. Spain still treats gambling as a sector that can expand only under close oversight.
Growth is now harder to ignore
By 2024, the market was no longer defined only by compliance. Online casinos generated €730.3 million in GGR that year, accounting for just over half the market, while betting brought in €608.85 million. Deposits, withdrawals and marketing spend also increased as the licensed sector expanded.
The player base is growing too. DGOJ’s 2024 executive summary showed average active accounts rising and participation widening, even as the regulator continued its work on safer gambling and player-risk detection.
By 2026, Spain looks less like a new market and more like a mature one
By 2026, Spain looks less like a newly regulated market and more like a mature one. It has an established regulator, a large licensed market and tighter consumer protections than many peers, while the business itself is still growing.
The next challenge is no longer building the market. It is managing future growth while keeping close control over advertising, consumer safety and operator conduct.
