Gambling a popular leisure activity in Spain

More than 80% of people in Spain participated in gambling at least once in 2022. This makes gambling a popular leisure activity in the country. Of course, the internationally renowned El Gordo Christmas lottery is particularly popular with the population. Despite the widespread use of gambling, gambling addiction is hardly an issue in the country. Why is that?

Almost three weeks ago, the Spanish industry association CeJuego published the results of the "Juego y sociedad 2023" (Gaming and Society) study. According to the study, gambling is extremely popular in Spain. 83.9% of Spaniards aged between 18 and 75 will have played a game of chance at least once in 2022. An article published on GambleJoe in the summer of 2020 already discussed planned advertising bans for online gambling in Spain.

Christmas lottery El Gordo by far the most popular

Nearly 84% of the Spanish population aged 18 to 75 have played gambling at least once in the past year. The annual Christmas lottery is the most popular gambling game in Spain. According to the latest study, 25.7 million players participated in the El Gordo lottery. Just before Christmas 2022, we at GambleJoe reported on the spectacular Christmas lottery in Spain, where prizes totalling 2.5 billion euros were up for grabs.

Another 14 million Spaniards participated in the Spanish lottery "Loteria Primitiva". In addition, around 1.5 million Spaniards were interested in online gambling and made at least one deposit in 2022.

Are there many regular players in Spain?

No, only around 23% of Spanish gamblers were regular gamblers last year. This means that they play at least once a week. In a survey conducted in 2015, around one in five Spaniards (18%) said that gambling was part of their leisure activities. As recently as April this year, an article reported that researchers are noticing a growing normalisation of gambling.

Gambling addiction hardly an issue in Spain

Despite the popularity of lotteries and other games of chance, gambling addiction is not a major problem in Spain. In fact, according to the latest study, Spain is one of the five countries in Europe with the lowest rates of gambling addiction. According to the study, only around 0.3% of the Spanish population between the ages of 18 and 75 suffer from at least problematic gambling behaviour. The figure is similarly low in Germany.

Tax revenues from gambling are of great importance

Revenue from private gambling is of fundamental importance to the Spanish treasury. In 2022, the authorities will collect over €1.7 billion from private gambling in the form of fees and taxes. This is in addition to a further €700 million from public gambling.

Although the vast majority of Spaniards gambled last year, the country does not have an above-average problem with gambling addiction. This is mainly due to the high number of recreational gamblers who only participate in the El Gordo Christmas lottery, for example.

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