Spain fines 26 licensed operators €3.5m as enforcement pressure grows

• Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs and gambling regulator DGOJ impose €3.5m in fines on 26 licensed B2C operators.​
• High‑profile brands, including Betfair, 888, Codere, Novomatic’s Beatya Online and Entain’s Electraworks Ceuta face sanctions for technical and responsible gambling breaches.​
• Six unlicensed offshore operators are each fined €5m, taking total penalties in the latest enforcement round to €33.5m and lifting 2025 sanctions to about €111m.​

Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs and national gambling regulator, the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), have issued a new wave of sanctions against licensed and unlicensed online operators, in one of the toughest enforcement rounds seen in the country’s regulated market.

The latest decisions include €3.5m in fines for 26 licensed B2C companies and €30m in penalties for six offshore firms, reflecting a clear policy focus on both technical compliance and illegal gambling activity.​

Top-tier brands sanctioned

According to local reports, 26 licensed operators have been sanctioned for “serious” breaches relating mainly to technical systems, data communication and responsible gambling controls. The fines for these licensees total €3.5m under Spain’s gambling law, with individual penalties calibrated to the type and frequency of the violations.​

Several well‑known brands feature in the list. Reports state that 888 Online, part of the Evoke group, faces a €250,000 fine tied to unapproved or incorrectly configured technical systems, while Betfair has been sanctioned €100,000 for shortcomings in responsible gambling and player protection processes.

Beatya Online, linked to Novomatic, is fined €300,000 over software and communications issues that did not meet technical requirements. Entain’s Electraworks Ceuta is penalised €512,000 across three breaches, including allowing access to prohibited individuals, and Codere receives a €17,500 fine for a technical non‑compliance.​

Offshore operators hit with €5m each

The same enforcement round targets six unlicensed offshore operators that continued to offer online gambling to Spanish customers without approval. The DGOJ classifies these as “very serious” infringements, applying the maximum standard administrative penalty of €5m per operator and ordering their removal from the market.​

The sanctioned unlicensed entities are named as XYZ Entertainment, Moonrail Limited, EOD Code SRL, Samaki, Lone Rock Holdings and Novaforge. Each is due to be blocked at domain level and barred from legally accessing the Spanish market for two years.

Enforcement totals and policy context

When combined, the €3.5m in fines for licensed operators and €30m imposed on unlicensed firms produce €33.5m in sanctions in this latest round alone. Spain’s gambling penalties for 2025 amount to roughly €111m, continuing a multi‑year trend of growing financial enforcement following reforms to the Gambling Regulation Act.​

Spain has positioned itself among Europe’s stricter markets, with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the DGOJ rolling out tighter rules on technical standards, safer gambling messaging and monitoring of high‑risk behaviours.

The current approach signals that operators active in the jurisdiction will need to invest in more resilient systems, closer oversight of player protection and faster remediation of compliance issues. Unlicensed businesses face escalating financial penalties and market blocks if they continue to target Spanish customers.​