26 operators granted Spanish poker licenses

According to an article at Gaming Intelligence 53 operators have been granted licenses to offer online gaming in Spain as part of their recently enacted legislation. Not all of the licensees are strictly online poker providers, and online poker licenses were only granted to 26 operators.

Several very big names were amongst the licensees, including 888 Poker, Ladbrokes, OnGame, Betfair, and other online gaming giants.  Here is a look at the 26 online poker providers that were issued a Spanish license:

1. 888 Spain Ltd
2. Banegras Unión, S.A
3. Casino Barcelona Interactivo S.A
4. Cirsa Digital SAU
5. Desarrollo Online Juegos Regulados SA
6. Digital Distribution Management Ibérica SA
7. Electraworks plc
8. Esgaming SAU
9. Eurojuego Star SA
10. G2 Gaming Spain SA
11. Golden Park Games SA
12. Hillside España Leisure SA
13. Juego Online EAD
14. Ladbrokes International plc
15. Luckia Games SA
16. Ongame Markets Malta plc
17. Paf-Consulting ABP
18. Première Megaplex SA
19. Prima Networks Spain plc
20. Pt Entretenimiento Online EAD
21. Reel Spain plc
22. Sileuta plc
23. Spread Your Wings Spain plc
24. Suertia Interactiva SA
25. Vive La Suerte SA
26. Winga Spain SA

The Spanish market is still in flux after being cut-off from the rest of the world when legislation was finally enacted (after several long delays) and Spanish players are still trying to figure out if they were better off beforehand, when they could play against people from all around the world but in a not-so-legal environment, or if they are better off now with a legalized and regulated market that they hope brings in a slew of casual players who may have been wary of the legality of online poker before the new legislation.

One of the delays came about after the Spanish government decided to try for a cash-grab, and demanded companies that were already serving Spanish poker players to pay back taxes, which amounted to hundreds of millions of Euros between the largest online poker providers, including PokerStars.