Spain🇪🇸: annual gambling industry turnover in the Basque Country reached EUR 487 million

Spain🇪🇸: annual gambling industry turnover in the Basque Country reached EUR 487 million

These are data from Cejuego for 2024, but extending the comparison five years back reveals a clear trend: 11.5% growth, particularly in the online segment.

▶️ Some additional figures:

🗣 Compared with 2019, total sales volume increased by EUR 50 million.

🗣 In 2025, the tax authorities of the three provinces (Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Álava) collected EUR 42.1 million in gambling taxes, up 40.8% from 2021.

🗣 By June 2026, sector revenue had already reached EUR 22.9 million, up 7.8% year over year.

▶️ Trends: land-based gambling establishments continue to dominate, with turnover of EUR 282 million, while state lotteries have lost ground (-33.9% compared with 2019). By contrast, gambling is strengthening, particularly as the customer base gradually becomes younger. Legal gambling expenditure reached approximately EUR 55 million in 2024. Casinos and online betting are the leading segments.

▶️ Taxes: in addition to taxes applicable to specific forms of gambling, the sector is subject to the Gaming Tax (Impuesto sobre Actividades del Juego, or IAJ), calculated on operators' net revenue after winnings have been paid.

🗣 In 2024, the taxable base for the IAJ amounted to EUR 1,455 million, while tax revenue exceeded EUR 176 million.

🗣 The Basque Country accounts for approximately 4.2% of this amount, equivalent to around EUR 7.4 million in revenue for the provincial governments.

▶️ Illegal gambling and regulation: tax losses resulting from activity shifting into the illegal sector are estimated at EUR 9.7 million. According to Ernst&Young, net revenue from Spain's illegal gambling segment amounted to approximately EUR 231 million, or around 16% of the legal market. Applying the same 4.2% share, the Basque Country's portion of these revenues, or tax losses depending on the perspective, would amount to approximately EUR 9.7 million.

👻 (Perception and reality: 47.5% of customers who believed they were gambling legally were actually using unlicensed websites. Domains .com, .io and .bet are not regulated under Spanish law).

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