DGOJ (Spain) online gambling licence: what it covers and what it means for players

For players in Great BritainA DGOJ licence only authorises gambling for players in Spain. Under the Gambling Act 2005, s.33 read with s.36(3) and (3A) (as amended by the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014), providing remote gambling facilities that are used in Great Britain without a Gambling Commission operating licence is an offence, and s.330 makes advertising unlawful gambling an offence. A Spanish licence therefore does not allow anyone to offer gambling to people in Great Britain. How to check a site.

Licence types

General licence – 'Apuestas' (betting): 10 years, renewable once for the same period
General licence – 'Otros juegos' (other games, e.g. casino-type games, poker, bingo): 10 years, renewable
General licence – 'Concursos' (contests): 10 years, renewable
Singular licences for each specific game type within a general licence (e.g. sports betting by type, roulette, blackjack, poker, slot machines, bingo): 1 to 5 years, renewable; lost if the general licence is lost
State lotteries are not licensed: they are reserved by law to SELAE and ONCE

What players get

National self-exclusion: the RGIAJ (Registro General de Interdicciones de Acceso al Juego) bars registered people from all online gambling licensed by the State; registration is indefinite and can only be cancelled after 6 months; some regional registers are interconnected with it
Complaints: a player must first complain to the operator; if unhappy with the answer or there is no reply within one month, they can file a complaint with the DGOJ
Financial guarantee: each general licence holder must lodge a guarantee (EUR 2 million for betting, EUR 2 million for other games, EUR 500,000 for contests in the initial period) that backs payment of prizes, fines and gaming fees
Technical certification: gaming systems must be approved (homologated) by the DGOJ, with reports from designated certification bodies, ongoing inspection and an audit every two years
Safer-gambling rules (Royal Decree 176/2023): a named safer-gambling officer, an active safer-gambling plan, monthly activity summaries, limits on live-betting amounts, detection of risky behaviour, a ban on promotions and limits on payment methods for players showing risky behaviour, and account suspension on self-exclusion
Deposit limits currently apply per operator; a new person-wide joint deposit-limit system was approved in June 2026 (see recent changes)
Gambling is restricted to adults (18+) under Ley 13/2011

How to check a licence

Use the DGOJ's 'Buscador de operadores' (https://www.ordenacionjuego.es/operadores-juego/operadores-licencia/operadores), which lists every licensed operator, the licences it holds and the exact web domains it may use. The DGOJ also publishes a 'Juego autorizado' (authorised gambling) logo for licensed operators (https://www.ordenacionjuego.es/operadores-juego/herramientas-operadores/logotipos-dgoj); a logo on its own proves nothing, so check the domain against the DGOJ list.

Recent changes

2023-03-14: Royal Decree 176/2023 on safer gambling environments adopted; most provisions in force six months after publication, some (e.g. live-betting limits, payment limits) after twelve months
2024-04-02: Supreme Court judgment annulled several provisions of the 2020 advertising decree (Royal Decree 958/2020), including the rule on celebrities in gambling ads (art. 15) and parts of the rules on promotions (art. 13), online and email advertising (arts. 23, 24) and social media (art. 26)
2025-11-25: DGOJ announced fines of more than EUR 3 million on 26 licensed operators for serious infringements
2026-05-18: DGOJ opened a public consultation (to 22 June 2026) on reforming Ley 13/2011, covering celebrity/influencer advertising, sign-up promotions, search-engine advertising, identity checks and illegal gambling
2026-05-26: DGOJ opened sanction proceedings against two unlicensed prediction-market platforms and ordered their websites blocked
2026-06-23: Council of Ministers approved a royal decree creating person-wide joint deposit limits across all operators, defaulting to EUR 700 a day, EUR 1,750 a week and EUR 3,300 per four weeks, which players can change through a specific procedure; DGOJ will run the system
2026-07-21: DGOJ began meetings with the more than 50 bodies that responded to the consultation, before drafting the new gambling law

Context

The DGOJ publishes the names of licensed operators and their permitted domains, and publishes firm sanctions for serious infringements

The DGOJ treats prediction-market betting offered in Spain without a licence as illegal gambling and has ordered such websites blocked

In 2024 Spain's Supreme Court struck down parts of the 2020 advertising rules; the government has said it wants to restore controls such as limits on celebrity advertising through a change to the law itself

Not yet verified

Date the joint deposit-limit royal decree enters into force (approval on 23 June 2026 is confirmed; BOE publication and start date were not checked)
The 25 Nov 2025 sanctions item and the 26 May 2026 prediction-market blocking item are cited via the DGOJ news index (https://www.ordenacionjuego.es/novedades, pages 1-8) because their own URLs name individual operators/platforms
Year first licences were issued (2012) is not separately sourced; 'established' uses the 2011 Act

We could not confirm these from a primary source, so we have not stated them as fact.