Spanish Casino Payment Methods

For almost 150 years gambling in Spain consisted mainly of lottery-style games that were tightly controlled by the government. However, in 1977 the Spanish government legalized all 'skill-based' games followed by all 'games of chance' in 1981. And between then and now, gambling has grown in popularity in Spain in leaps and bounds and the country is now one of Europe's biggest gambling nations in terms of per capita spend.

In 2008 new legislation divided Spain into 17 regions, each with the authority to issue their own gambling licenses. Today there are more than 40 land casinos across Spain which collectively boast over a quarter of a million slot and video poker games. At around the same time the new legislation was passed, sportsbooks started growing in popularity in Spain which today is one of the fastest growing gambling sectors in the nation.

Regarding online gambling, in 2002 the Spanish government started the process of legalizing and regulating the popular internet activity, a process that continues to this day. However, not everything is rosy in the land of bullfighting and Goya. Like many other EU member states, the Spanish government seems eager to cling onto its gambling monopoly ways, ignoring calls from the European Commission to open up its gambling market.

While it is not closed to the idea of allowing offshore online gambling operators to target Spanish players, to protect its state-run operator Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, the government has announced plans to impose hefty taxes on fixed odds sports bets and pool bets, as well as an extra 10 percent levy on online gambling operators that service Spanish online gambling fans, which threatens to violate EU free trade principles.

Popular Spanish Gambling Payment Methods

That said, most online casinos welcome Spanish players and even cater to them with Spanish versions and the most popular Spanish casino payment methods such as Transferencia Bancaria Local, Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, Moneybookers, Clickandbuy, PaySafeCard, EntroPay, Click2Pay, ECOCard, Ukash, EZIpay and Citadel Direct.