Spanish residents like gambling. Spain has one of the highest proportions of gamblers in Europe. Statistics claim that 22.68 billion euros was spent on gambling last year, with illegal gambling said to be double that amount.
The El Gordo and ONCE lottery systems have also become massive industries in their own right, with billions being spent on tickets each year.
So how have the Spanish residents taken to the recent phenomenon of online gambling, now that broadband and software technology has allowed online games to progress into their country. Certainly when gambling laws were relaxed in 1977 there was a massive increase in gambling on fruit machines and such. So now, and with no restrictions to online gambling, Spain could be getting ready to experience another huge increase in gambling of a different kind.
Spains 468 licensed bingo halls have certainly seen a drop in recent years, but are people converting to online, or is it a sign of the times that people just do not have the money to enter bingo halls and casinos as much as in the past. Nielsen (net research statistics) claim only 10% of Spanish residents with an internet connection actually visited...