Regulatory Gaps Exposed
JDigital CEO Jorge Hinojosa issued a stark warning following the report’s release, declaring, “This study shows that illegal gambling is not a marginal phenomenon, but a real risk for thousands of users who are outside of any guarantee.”
Hinojosa stressed the urgency for enhanced public education on responsible gambling, redirection to licensed platforms, and cross-agency collaboration to combat the crisis. Hinojosa reinforced this stance in a separate Spanish-language report, asserting that the regulated market is the sole avenue for consumer protection.
Underground Economy’s High Stakes
The EY analysis reveals Spain’s illegal gambling raked in €231 million in 2024, equivalent to 16% of the legal sector’s revenue. High rollers spending over €600 monthly drive 61.4% of this shadow activity, often abandoning regulated platforms for inflated bonuses, anonymity, and weaker player protections. Nearly 30% of users admitted prioritizing unlicensed operators due to massive promotions.
The illicit market thrives on digital payment systems, with Bizum and cryptocurrency transactions enabling widespread, discreet gambling. Confusion persists among the masses, with 26% of gamblers failing to identify legal platforms, while 15% remain unaware of potential risks.
Young adults aged 18-24 show the highest engagement (16.1%) but the lowest awareness, with 32.1% claiming they had no idea of the existence of unregulated operators. This underscores the vulnerability in Spain’s gambling education frameworks.
Risky Online Pathways
Social platforms have become accelerators of Spain’s underground gambling economy, with 38% of illegal platform users discovering unregulated sites through YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram. The messaging app Telegram proves to be the most influential, with 12% of participants accessing illegal operators through it. EY highlights these “opaque and unsupervised digital channels” as primary recruitment tools for unauthorized operators.
