Spain to test shared deposit limits as illegal gambling grows 102%

Spain is moving toward deposit limits that work across operators, which is the kind of rule that changes how PSPs, acquirers, and operators think about exposure at account level. The timing is awkward: the illegal betting market grew 102% in the last year, according to data presented in the Gaming in Spain webinar.

1. Josh Hodgson, director of Operations at H2 Gambling Capital, said Spain is now the fifth-largest gambling market in the world by gross gaming revenue, with $1.879 billion generated in betting and gaming last year. He added that this represents 51% growth over the last three years.
2. H2 Gambling Capital expects regulated online gambling revenue in Spain to reach $2.063 billion in 2026, with a channelisation rate of 78% — in other words, 78% of bets made through legal platforms. Hodgson said a large part of offshore growth is being driven by the rise of crypto casinos, and warned that shared deposit limits could push more activity into the unregulated market.
3. Before the measure was announced, H2 had projected Spain’s online gambling market at $2.268 billion in 2027. It now expects the rule to reduce total player spend by about $324 million, with about $86 million shifting to foreign operators. The net hit is $238 million, or 7%, in both 2027 and 2028.
4. Hodgson said the market would not shrink overall; instead, growth would stall during that period. By the end of 2028, regulated market revenue would reach about $2.214 billion, compared with the $2.052 billion projected for 2026.
5. The offshore market could reach $886 million in 2028, up from $637 million estimated for this year. That would drag channelisation down from 76% now to 74% in 2027, before stabilising at around 71% from 2028 onward.

The DGOJ (Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego) has set default deposit caps for all players in Spain at $756 per day, $1.890 per week, and $3.564 over a four-week period. Players can change or remove these limits voluntarily, but only with additional security steps.

Xavi Muñoz, managing partner at ECIJA Barcelona, said operators need to be ready technically, operationally, and legally before the test period begins on 25 September. That is the real compliance problem here: if the limits are enforced across multiple licensed operators, the payment stack has to support aggregated exposure, not just single-brand controls.