The provincial treasuries of Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Álava increased their specific gaming-related tax revenue by 40.8% between 2021 and 2025, rising from €29.9 million to €42.1 million. In the first half of 2026 alone, revenue reached €22.9 million, compared with €21.3 million a year earlier, an increase of 7.8%.
The fiscal shift is occurring alongside a broader transformation of the market. Gambling expenditure in the Basque Country reached €487 million in 2024, compared with €437 million in 2019, up 11.5%, according to industry data cited by CEJUEGO. Land-based gambling increased from €225 million to €282 million, up 25.3%, driven by gaming halls, casinos, bingo, betting and gaming machines. Online gambling added around €55 million, while state lotteries fell from €186 million in 2019 to €123 million in 2024. ONCE remained broadly stable at €27 million, compared with €26 million.
Gaming machines remain the main tax engine. In 2023, they generated around €32.3 million, compared with €3.5 million from bingo. In Bizkaia, the 2025 budget projected €25.9 million in gaming tax revenue: €19.1 million from machines, €4.1 million from casinos and €2.7 million from bingo.
Nerea Alday Garate
The Basque Country has 247 gambling venues: 207 gaming halls, 14 bingo halls, 23 dedicated betting shops, two casinos and one racetrack. The casinos are Luckia Casino Bilbao, at Plaza Campuzano, and Casino Kursaal, in San Sebastián, both commercially linked to Luckia. Despite higher revenue, the number of casino tables fell from 19 in 2016 to six in 2024, while permits for Type C gaming machines declined from 123 to 51.
Land-based gambling is regulated by the Basque Government’s Directorate of Gambling and Entertainment, headed by Nerea Alday Garate, under the Department of Security led by Bingen Zupiria. State-regulated online gambling falls under the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), headed by Mikel Arana Etxezarreta.
The regional framework is based on Decree 120/2016, amended by Decree 19/2022, while provincial taxation is structured through Álava Regulation 5/2005, Bizkaia Regulation 3/2005 and Gipuzkoa Regulation 1/2005.
