Online Gambling in Spain
Online gambling is Spain is legal. Spaniards can readily gamble online while companies seeking to operate gambling websites based in Spain can readily apply for a license.
The legislation regarding gambling online in Spain is currently changing. A few years ago, there were no specific laws that regulated online gambling. Beginning in 2002, however, the Spanish government began moving towards the regulation and legalization of internet gambling.
The legislative changes to Spain's online gambling laws are still in progress. In early 2009, much work was done towards the goal of legal online gambling in Spain.
Soon, Spanish online gambling licenses will be available to EU-based operators. This means that players in Spain will have a full range of Spanish gambling websites available to them. The change is happening quickly, and results are expected by late 2009.
Under Spain's law, people from Spain now can legally place bets and wager over the phone and online.
The licenses will be issued for five years, and after that they can be renewed if conditions are met, such as strict control over minors and mentally challenged people.
The potential market value is extremely high, considering that the legal wagering in Italy alone is close to 30 billion Euros. Now Spain is looking forward to a similar cash flow, that otherwise would be barely accounted for. The new law might also shrink the illegal betting market in those countries.
About Spain
Spain, officially known as the Kingdom of Spain, is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 km˛, it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France.
Spain is a member state of the European Union.