The Government has imposed over the last five years 465.4 million euros in fines on illegal online gambling operators without having managed to collect any of those sanctions. This is admitted by the Executive itself in a written response to the Popular Group in Congress, in which it acknowledges that "no amount has been paid, remaining pending collection in its entirety." The accumulated amount totals exactly 465,427,500 euros between 2022 and 2026.
The breakdown shows that the largest fines were concentrated at the beginning of the period: 128.4 million euros in 2022, 150 million in 2023, 96 million in 2024, 51 million in 2025, and another 40 million during 2026. The figure corresponds to fines linked to operators that offer online gambling illegally in Spain and highlights one of the main difficulties of the regulator: imposing a fine does not necessarily mean being able to enforce it when the company is located outside the country.
Why the Government says it cannot collect the fines
The Executive's explanation focuses on the international nature of illegal gambling. According to its parliamentary response, many of these companies do not have a real establishment in Spain, have their domicile in foreign jurisdictions that do not always cooperate with Spanish authorities, and use corporate structures that are difficult to trace. In addition, they can quickly change domains, brands, payment systems, and technology providers, complicating both their identification and the seizure of assets with which to enforce the sanctions.
The Government argues that, in certain cases, information about the companies comes solely from open sources available on the internet or public databases, which also limits the possibilities for investigation. Hence, it goes so far as to state that these characteristics make "the collection of the sanctions impossible" in many cases and force the use of other tools to interrupt the activity.
"The main purpose is not revenue-generating"
The Executive rejects that the 465 million pending necessarily imply that the policy against illegal gambling has failed. In its response to the PP, it argues that "the effectiveness of administrative action cannot be assessed mainly by the effective collection of imposed fines," but by the ability to detect operators, block their pages, prevent them from continuing to attract Spanish players, and hinder their payment and advertising systems.
"The main purpose of the sanctioning activity is, therefore, not revenue-generating, but rather the protection of the market and consumers," the Government maintains. Among the effects it considers relevant, it cites the removal of visibility in search engines and social networks, the blocking of access from Spain, the difficulties in working with technology providers, and the impossibility for a sanctioned company to subsequently access the regulated Spanish market normally.
Fines of up to five and ten million for operating without a license
The General Directorate of Gambling Regulation (DGOJ), dependent on the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption, and Agenda 2030, publishes the sanctioning resolutions imposed on companies in the sector. Its register currently records more than a hundred very serious infractions, many of them linked to operators that offered bets or gambling in Spain without the license required by Law 13/2011.
The amounts can be very high. In the fines that became final during the second half of 2024, for example, Consumption imposed fines of 75 million euros on 14 foreign operators without a license: thirteen received five million each and a repeat offender was fined ten million. In addition to the fine, the regulations allow for the closure of the portals and temporary disqualification from operating in Spain.
Blocking the website when locating the operator is not enough
Precisely because of the difficulties in collecting, the Administration has reinforced a parallel route in recent years: closing or blocking the pages from which illegal gambling is offered. When an operator does not have authorization, the DGOJ can initiate the corresponding procedure and adopt measures aimed at preventing them from continuing to attract Spanish users, even when it is complicated to locate or notify the responsible company.
A recent example is the platforms Polymarket and Kalshi, against which Consumo opened files in June 2026 for allegedly operating in Spain without authorization. The Ministry ordered the blocking of their pages as a precautionary measure after attempts at direct notification at their foreign addresses were unsuccessful. This type of action illustrates the problem that the Government is now describing: administratively pursuing digital companies that may lack an easily enforceable physical presence in Spain.
The PP questions the effectiveness of the sanctions
The figure of 465.4 million uncollected has come to light precisely as a result of several parliamentary questions from the PP regarding the sanctions imposed for illegal online gambling and the measures taken to ensure their collection. The Executive responds that the pursuit of these companies must be analyzed beyond the money collected, but the data shows a significant difference between the formal volume of the announced fines and their effective impact on the sanctioned companies.
There is also a relevant difference between illegal operators and authorized companies that commit administrative violations. The large amounts that make up these 465 million mainly come from very serious violations related to unlicensed activity, often led by foreign entities. The DGOJ maintains serious resolutions separately against companies that are part of the regulated market and whose enforcement presents different characteristics.
465 million on paper, zero euros collected
The balance thus leaves a paradox for the Administration: Spain has developed a system capable of imposing million-euro fines on those who offer gambling without authorization, but the total of 465,427,500 euros sanctioned between 2022 and 2026 remains uncollected. The Government believes that its priority should be to cut off access of those operators to the Spanish market and protect players, while the figures show the enormous difficulties in converting administrative sanctions into money effectively recovered.
The underlying issue is how to pursue digital companies capable of quickly changing domain, payment gateway, or jurisdiction. As long as there is no more effective international cooperation or assets to enforce the sanctions, the State can close pages and limit their activity, but has much more difficulty collecting the fines that appear in the official resolutions.