Spain
Regulator: Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego – DGOJ.
Site: http://www.ordenacionjuego.es
Adress: Calle Atocha, 3 Madrid 28012
Phone: 91 571 40 80
Email: http://sede.ordenacionjuego.gob.es/ es
Everything changed in 2011 when the Spanish government adopted a new law on gambling. The new law brought uniformity across the country and established standards for the gambling on the Internet that had not been previously introduced.
Spanish Gaming Commission
The Spanish government created the Spanish Gaming Commission. In the early years, the main responsibilities of the Commission revolved around the regulation of national lotteries, as well as monitoring gambling activities in all 17 regions.
In 2010, the gambling authority in Spain was given the task to develop new guidelines that could be implemented on a nationwide basis. The focus of the proposed legislation was the online games. In May 2011, the Spanish law on gambling was finally passed by the Senate. In June 2012, the very first licenses iGaming were released for more than 50 different operators.
The application process
The Spanish law established that iGaming licenses for online gambling will be given only once in 18 months. The initial license shall be issued for up to 10 years, followed by the extension of another in 10 years.
Each potential operator must submit a separate application for each type of games that they will offer to get gambling license in Spain. (Sports, horse racing, bingo, casino, poker and lotteries, as well as local card games).
Along with the submission of the application, each operator must:
- establish a legal entity of the Spanish license holder;
- submit an operational plan, and their consent to keep the computer server on Spanish soil;
- provide easy access to regulatory authorities;
- set up a gaming domain, it has to end with .es.
- pay the registration fee for one of the three types of licenses. At the moment there are such ones:
- general,
- single,
- permissive.
- pay taxes in gross profit on an annual basis in order to achieve gambling regulation in Spain (rates range from 10% to 25%, depending on the specific calculations and proposed games).
- pay an administration fee 1% of the total gambling turnover on an annual basis.
- comply with all tax liabilities that are created by the Government of Spain.
- The rules of gambling
While the Spanish Commission on gambling remains responsible for the licensing, the online gambling of each type is regulated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
In addition, the Commission acts as a liaison between the federal government and the relevant authorities in each of the 17 designated areas and is responsible for their actions.
In general, the Spanish Commission on gambling Comisión Nacional del Juego is considered to have a moderate level of security that is pretty good news for the Spanish players. Its main responsibilities are to regulate national lotteries and keep a close look at all gambling activities in all of the regions.
In Spain sports betting, horse racing, bingo, casino, poker, and lotteries are licensed by the Spanish Gaming Commission or the Comision Nacional del Juego. However, each type of gambling, as well as online gambling laws, is regulated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
