The Spanish gambling sector continues to grow at pace, and while this may be financial good news for operators it does come at a time of political scrutiny.

Spain has some of the strictest gambling regulations in Europe, particularly around marketing, and while this has eased up in recent years the pressure remains on.

According to the latest figures from the DJOG, Spain’s gambling regulator, Q2 2025 gross gambling revenue (GGR) was up 18.6% from Q2 2024 and 2.79% from Q1 2025.

The total figure stood at €410.26m, with player deposits and withdrawals increasing YoY by 23.66% to 28.9%, though QoQ these same figures dropped slightly by 0.36% to 0.63%.

This GGR is divided between betting, which grew 2.73% to €171.4m and accounted for 41.78%; casino revenue grew 6.53% to €216.37m accounting for 52.74%; while poker revenue was down 21.11% to €19.11m accounting for 4.66%.

Bingo revenue also dropped during the quarter by 6.91% to €3.37m, accounting for just 0.82% of overall GGR. Declines in poker and casino were more than offset by betting and casino revenue, however.

Spanish authorities eye social impacts

Despite the above mentioned restrictions, Spanish betting remains an active and varied market with a diverse range of incumbents including locals Codere and CIRSA, the latter of which is very confident of market leadership after reporting operating income of €573m in its first interim report as a Bolsa Madrid-listed company. 

International players include Betfred, Entain’s bwin, and Betway, among others. This range of betting operators drove GGR from fixed-odds sports betting by 24.55% and fixed-odds horse racing betting by 3.22% during the quarter, although live betting dropped by 33.24%

However, as mentioned above Spanish authorities show no signs of further relaxing the country’s strict advertising rules, which conclude provisions like a total ban on sports sponsorships – forcing overseas clubs like Nottingham Forest to find alternative front-of-shirt partners when playing in Spain.

A 2024 Supreme Court decision reversed some elements of the 2020 Royal Decree which clamped down heavily on advertising. This court ruling allowed operators to bring back welcome bonuses and social media advertising.

However, with the industry enjoying considerable growth over the past year politicians have again taken note. The Ministry of Social Rights (MAS) in particular has drawn dots between the return of welcome bonuses and a surge in Spanish account numbers in 2024.

Also, with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs now expressing concern about the exposure of Spanish youngsters to gambling advertising and products, a nearly 20% increase in GGR in Q2 may add further fuel to political flames around gambling.