Spain's Online Gambling Revenue Rose 31% to €539m in Q2 as Betting Jumped 47%

The DGOJ's second-quarter data takes Spain's online market to about €993 million of gross gaming revenue in the first half, roughly 23% up on 2025. New accounts rose by half and operators spent €194 million on marketing, two years after the courts reopened welcome bonuses.

• Spain's licensed online operators generated gross gaming revenue of €539.18 million in the second quarter of 2026, up 31.16% on a year earlier and 18.66% on the first quarter, according to the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ)
• Betting produced €253.59 million, up 47.46% year on year, and casino €261.25 million, up 20.61%; together they account for more than 95% of the market
• Deposits rose 22.76% to €1.06 billion, monthly active accounts rose 20.13% to about 2.04 million, and new accounts rose 50.39% to an average of 253,626 a month
• Operators spent €194.46 million on marketing, 17.96% more than a year earlier, of which €91.25 million went on promotions and €80.26 million on advertising
• With a first quarter of €454.1 million, the first half comes to about €993 million, roughly 23% above the same period of 2025 by our calculation

Betting Drove the Quarter

Spain's state-licensed online gambling market produced gross gaming revenue of €539.18 million between April and June 2026, according to the quarterly market data of the DGOJ, the regulator within the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, as reported by Sector del Juego. That is 18.66% more than in the first quarter and 31.16% more than in the second quarter of 2025.

Betting provided most of the acceleration. Its GGR rose to €253.59 million, 47.03% of the market, up 44.99% on the quarter and 47.46% on the year, and within betting the GGR of conventional sports betting against the bookmaker rose 83.57% on the first quarter. The quarter included the opening weeks of the World Cup, which began on 11 June. Casino, the largest vertical, grew more steadily: €261.25 million, 48.45% of the market, up 5.56% on the quarter and 20.61% on the year, with slots up 22.40% on the year. Poker brought in €21.03 million, down 25.65% on the quarter but up 10.06% on the year, and bingo €3.30 million, down on both measures.

The player figures moved with the revenue. Deposits reached €1,059.23 million, up 22.76% on the year. The monthly average of active accounts was 2,038,092, up 20.13%, and new accounts averaged 253,626 a month, up 50.39%. There were 77 licensed operators, 61 of which held at least one active singular licence during the quarter.

Operators spent €194.46 million on marketing, up 17.96% on the second quarter of 2025. Promotions were the largest item at €91.25 million, followed by advertising at €80.26 million, according to the DGOJ data. With first-quarter GGR of €454.1 million, up 13.9% on the year, the first half comes to about €993 million.

A Market Growing While Its Rules Are Being Rewritten

The figures arrive while the government prepares a reform of the Ley del Juego, the 2011 gambling law. The DGOJ has spent this week hearing proposals from the sector, meeting the operators' association CEJUEGO and the ONCE, the national lottery for the blind, according to Sector del Juego. The reform is also contested by the regions: all 17 autonomous communities signed a joint defence of their gambling powers against Madrid last week.

New Accounts Are the Number the Regulator Will Look At

A 50% rise in new accounts is the figure most closely tied to marketing rather than to the sporting calendar. Spain restricted welcome bonuses and celebrity advertising under Royal Decree 958/2020, and the Supreme Court annulled those provisions in April 2024 on a challenge by the operators' association JDigital. Promotions are now the largest single marketing line, at €91.25 million, and new sign-ups are running at more than 250,000 a month. The World Cup explains part of the jump in betting; it explains less of the steady growth in casino and in the account base. For a government drafting a new law, the data gives both sides an argument: operators can point to a regulated market that is growing and channelling players away from unlicensed sites, while the ministry can point to acquisition spending and sign-ups rising faster than revenue.

The Growth Is Real, but the Second Half Will Test It

Betting's 83.57% quarterly rise in conventional sports betting is a tournament effect and will not repeat in the third quarter, which contains the World Cup's knockout rounds in July and then the start of the domestic football season. The more durable signal is casino, up 20.61% year on year without an event to lift it, and deposits up 22.76%, which suggests the market is widening rather than only betting more heavily on one competition. By our calculation the first half is up about 23% on 2025, and the reform will be written for a considerably larger market than the one the 2011 law was designed for.

Spain's online market grew by almost a third in the second quarter, and its marketing and sign-ups grew with it. How the ministry reads that combination will shape the new law.