Gambling licensees in Spain have been told to prepare for a year of regulatory changes and new compliance orders.
The message was delivered by Andrés Barragán, Secretary General for Consumer Affairs and Gambling, who holds Spain’s portfolio for the ongoing development of federal orders that oversee the authorisation of gambling licences.
Barragán addressed delegates at the FEJAR Conference on the rehabilitation of problem gamblers and the coordination of Spanish agencies needed to combat gambling harms.
In his address, the Secretary cited long-held concerns that Spain operates under what he described as an ‘irregular framework’ in its ability to minimise problem gambling risks.
As such, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs will seek to execute its long-held mandate to centralise safer gambling tools and systems, taking on full control of the oversight of gambling and its engagement with the Spanish public.
“We have a serious public health problem with online gambling in Spain,” Barragán told delegates. “That is why we must continue reinforcing regulation to reduce the harms. The current system is not sufficiently balanced to protect those most at risk.”
Protections pursued by the government have long been in development, with Spain sanctioning the Royal Decree on Safer Gambling Environments in March 2023.
However, many of the decree’s provisions remain on the desks of the Ministry and the Directorate General for Gambling Regulation (DGOJ), neither of which have provided any definitive updates for licence holders regarding technical requirements and projected timelines.
Barragán acknowledged industry concerns regarding regulatory uncertainty, but he maintained that reform was both necessary and proportionate.
“The Royal Decree marked an important step forward, but it is not the end of the process,” he stated. “We need stronger tools, better coordination and more effective mechanisms to detect and prevent problematic behaviours.”
Three compliance fronts
Barragán confirmed that the Ministry is advancing three new regulatory fronts, each designed to reinforce Spain’s public health approach to gambling oversight.
Firstly, the government intends to introduce effective ‘cross-operator betting limits’, preventing consumers from bypassing restrictions simply by opening accounts with multiple licence holders.
The system signals a shift towards centralised monitoring capabilities and greater data-sharing obligations across the regulated market.
“Limits must be real limits,” Barragán said. “It cannot be possible to evade safeguards by moving from one operator to another. If protection is to be effective, it must apply across the entire system.”
Secondly, Spain will revise its existing advertising warning requirements. Future gambling marketing will be required to incorporate information on operator profitability and risk concentration, moving away from campaigns that place sole emphasis on individual player responsibility.
“For too long, the narrative has focused exclusively on the responsibility of the player,” he added. “But operators design the environments, segment advertising towards certain profiles and concentrate almost all the benefits. Regulation must reflect that reality.”
The third facet of the reforms is the introduction of a strengthened early-detection system for players deemed to be at-risk of problem gambling. Designed by public health professionals to replace existing operator-led monitoring mechanisms, this new system will likely impose new technical reporting standards and risk-modelling criteria on licence holders.
“We want detection systems built on public health criteria, not purely commercial parameters,” Barragán explained. “Prevention must be structural, embedded in how platforms operate, not an afterthought.”
Fixing Spain’s imbalance
Barragán reiterated concerns that Spain’s gambling market remains ‘absolutely unbalanced’, with a minority of high-spending customers accounting for a disproportionate share of operator revenues.
He said: “A small number of players bear a large share of the heavy losses. If we are serious about reducing harm, we must address that concentration.”
The conference also took place against the backdrop of updated findings from the ESTUDES 2025 youth survey, which revealed rising participation in gambling among Spanish adolescents, aged 14–18.
This demographic was shown to have an increased engagement across both online and land-based betting products when compared to previous survey cycles. While raising alarms, the increased participation has reinforced the Ministry’s argument that stronger preventative tools are required.