Colombia is often described as the Cocaine Capital of South America, and—sometimes—the world. The idiosyncrasy of Pablo Escobar is an everlasting stain, yet Colombia is more than a hotspot for drug making, dealing and trafficking.

In all honesty, gambling had a rough start in Colombia. The same paramilitary organizations that supervised (or, rather, plagued) Colombian citizens for years also supervised most of the gambling activities in Colombia until 2001.

In 1991, the then-present Colombian government restructured the disturbed Constitution. But that was not enough to organise and properly supervise gambling facilities in the country. It was in 2001 that Law 643 was provided to perfect those flaws regarding slot parlours, casinos and bingo halls.

Fortunately, the new rules under the ETESA (Empresa Territorial Para la Salud) were more successful than expected. Gambling tax revenue went up as high as 500 percent. The success was refreshing for the government. In 2008, however, illegal gambling facilities were still as profusely widespread as illegal drug trafficking.

It was estimated that 20 percent of all gambling activities in the country was illegal. Also, there were 20,000 unlicensed slot machines out of the total 65,000. Then-president Álvaro Uribe was troubled by these figures and how strong the economy would be if all gambling facilities were licensed. So, he extended the authority of ETESA as a counteractive measure.

It was a success. ETESA, by 2009, had stretched out operations to more than nine settings, recharged 22 existing contracts identified with gambling undertakings, and issued around 10 new gaming licenses in the country. At the time, Argentina and Colombia rivaled to become the leader of the South American gambling industry.

Following a succession of corruption scandals in 2012, the then-president Álvaro Uribe had to dissolve ETESA. But, it was replaced by a fresh and better gambling board called the Coljuegos, in 2011. Upon establishment, the Coljuegos board instantly tackled the flaws in the system.

First, they started disassembling unlicensed gambling facilities and activities. Slot parlours were the major hit of the disassembling process.

Everything worked as planned. The board successfully destroyed the greater percentage of illicit gambling facilities while promoting licensed counterparts. Further, they took security to a whole new level by ensuring that all slot machines operating in Colombia must be connected to a secure server provided by the central government.

Ever since then, Colombia’s gambling industry has been on the rise. In fact, horse racing tracks alone employed nothing less than 40,000 Colombians when it emerged.

However, government switched up taxes and laws — which led to many racetracks being closed indefinitely. Regarding this, the then-Colombian government tried to repurpose their taxes and laws, and things were taking a positive turn.

Currently, Colombia has more casinos and gambling facilities than all South American countries except Argentina.

Of course, gambling is perfectly legal in Colombia. It became legal around 1977 and 1978 when a series of presidential decrees were passed. Although gambling fought instability for some decades even after legalization, gambling in Colombia today comes with much relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere.

Most forms of gambling (casinos, sports betting, bingos, dog racing, horse racing, pari-mutuel gambling, poker, Texas Hold’em poker tables, novelties, and raffles) are authorized, and the providers and operations are regulated and licensed by the Coljuegos board.

According to article 5 of Decree 4142 of 2011, the board — linked to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit — is in charge of all gambling operations in the country. Lastly, casinos and gambling facilities in Colombia are enormous.

The 60 casinos in Spain are spread throughout over 35 cities. While most cities feature a single casino, Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, Murcia, Málaga, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Valencia, Las Palmas, Girona, Granada, Logrono, Palma, Puerto Banus, Salamanca, Seville, and Zaragoza feature more than a casino each. The true gambling cities of Spain are Murcia, Madrid, and Barcelona as they individually have the best casinos in Spain.

The largest casino in the country is Gran Casino de Barcelona, which offers 219 gaming machines and 53 table games. Barcelona’s rival in everything, Madrid, comes in second with Casino Gran Madrid Torrelodones. The casino offers about 200 gaming machines, 34 table games, and 25 tables for poker games in its over-9,000 square feet gaming space.

There are more than just casinos in Spain. Although casinos are the most preferred establishments to enjoy casino games, there are gambling rooms in Spain, which are similar to (but smaller than) casinos. Their maximum wagering amount is €2 while the maximum prize is €500. Casino-like cruise ships are also available in this part of the Iberian Peninsula.

There are various casino games available; the most popular games are American Roulette, French Roulette, Blackjack, Boule, Baccarat, Trente et Quarante, Punto y Banca, Craps, Video Poker, Chemin de Fer, Poker Sin Descarte (or Synthetic Poker, a Spanish poker game similar to Omaha Poker), I-Table Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Electronic Roulette, Slot Machines, I-Roulette, I-Table Blackjack, Semielectronic Roulette, Texas Hold’em Poker, and Wheel of Fortune.

Poker is popular in Spain as the country has hosted a number of international poker tournaments: The World Cup of Poker (WCP), the World Heads-Up Poker Championship (WHUPC), and the European Poker Tour (EPT). (Ironically, the three are no more in existence but the EPT has been announced to come back in March 2018 sponsored by PokerStars.) Similarly, bingo is as popular as poker and most casinos offer it.

Slot machines, as an activity, is the most popular form of casino gambling in Spain. There are more than 250,000 popular and unpopular diverse slot machines across the country. About casinos, they are usually luxe and situated near a tourist-friendly hotel or resort (though a handful actually includes a hotel or resort).

Horse and greyhound racing are also popular in Spain. There are seven racetracks where both fixed-odds and pari-mutuel betting takes place. Bets are also conducted in the many sportsbooks within the country and are available online. Sports betting in Spain is mainly on football (which is a nationwide craze), Jai alai (native to the Basque Country, located across Spain, France, and the Bay of Biscay), basketball, Formula One, golf, cycling, tennis, and skiing.

The lottery is huge in Spain with just two operators. The ONCE and LAE operate a number of lottery games namely Rasca y Gana (scratch cards), Lotto, etc. ONCE provides daily draws while LAE draws hold once a year. As millions of tickets are sold each year, there are numerous offices, commissioned street vendors, and kiosks operated by individuals who are visually impaired within the country in which lottery games are provided.

Lastly, online gambling is adequately regulated and licensed in Spain. Tons of big online gambling operators (such as 888casino, PokerStars, William Hill, and bet365) are licensed to offer their services to Spanish residents and the residents themselves love to gamble online. From sports betting, lotteries, and casino games to bingo, horse racing betting, and slots, all forms of legal gambling are available on over 150 gambling websites.

– According to Article 7 of Law 10/2010 (the Spanish Anti-Money Laundering Act, approved by Royal Decree 304/2014, of 5th May), land-based casinos are required to verify the identity, residence, and age of players before entering the facility. (The minimum gambling age in Spain is 18 years.) In addition, casino employees must perpetually verify the identity of any player who a) buys chips worth £2,000 or more at once or in total b) request a check of his winning, requests to transfer funds, or requests a certificate of his winning. The dress code varies evidently per casino.

– In fact, the Spanish Anti-Money Laundering Act made online slots and pair-mutuel (or exchange) betting legal. The Act also discussed copyrights in gambling and thereby preventing the personal data of Spanish players.

– There is a restriction on regional online gambling that makes only tax residents of the region eligible to gamble on gambling websites licensed in the region.

– To operate a casino in Spain, aspiring operators must obtain a license for each game as there is no casino license. (For instance, with just poker license, the casino cannot offer other casino games.)

– General licenses are valid for a decade and can be renewed for the same timeframe. The validity period of single licenses is one to five years and similar for renewals. For an application, there are four fees: £10,000 per license, £2,500 per Gaming Registry entry of a license, £38,000 one-time fee for a certification regardless of the number of licenses applied for, and 0.075 percent annual fee based on the prior year’s revenues.

– Complementary or social games are quite popular in Spain. The maximum wagering amount is £1 while the maximum prize is £40.

– Land-based gambling activities are taxed according to regional tax collectors. Tax rates generally range from 10 to 45 percent and are based on the tax base (turnover or gross income) and GGR (gross gaming revenue). Tax rates of online gambling activities range from seven to 25 percent (mostly the latter) and are also based on the tax base and GGR.

– The website of Aecj Asociación Española de Casinos de Juego (the Spanish Association of Casinos and Gambling) presently lists 30+ casinos while the actual figure is nothing less than 60.

– In regards to advertising, regions define their respective policies. Meanwhile, advertising without permission is a criminal offence punishable under the law for land-based operators. Fines could be anything from £100,00 to £1 million and the authorities could temporarily ban such operator for at least six months. The same fine and ban policy go for online operators. However, online operators that are licensed by the Directorate or a regional regulatory body are permitted to advertise, market or conduct any sponsorship activity. Also, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), advertising agencies, gambling operators, and media institutions have registered with an autonomous Code of Conduct established by the Directorate so as to uniformly create a framework for regulated advertisements of online gambling services.

– Since 2012, Spanish players have been spending about €1.9 billion on gambling per year. This is equal to 15 percent of the income per household or almost €500 per person…and these figures grow year in, year out. Currently, an estimated figure of 30 percent of Spanish residents gambles frequently. Respectively from 2014 to 2016, the Spanish gambling industry generated revenues of €327 million, €368 million, and €409 million.

– The Extraordinary Christmas Lottery sells nothing less than €1.7 billion worth of tickets annually and about 70 percent is reportedly given back as cash prizes while the remaining 30 percent is used for charities and to fund the Catholic Church. The draw holds annually on exactly December 22.

– El Niño’s popularity and magnitude are only second to Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad’s. The lottery literally means The Body, with reference to Jesus Christ as a kid. El Niño annual draw takes place on January 5 of every year and is also provided by the LAE.

– Although of Danish descent, a Spanish nicknamed El Matador is the only player to have ever won-at the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker-the World Championship and the only Hispanic player to have ever won the World Series of Poker Main Event. His real name is Juan Carlos Mortensen.

– In 2017, the Extraordinary Christmas Lottery sold 165 million billetes (tickets) worth €3.3 billion and €2.3 billion were distributed as cash prizes. El Gordo was as huge as €720 million.

– Illegal gambling is a serious issue in Spain as it is believed that illegal gambling generates as much as legal gambling.

– Currently, there is a loophole in the gambling laws which makes it possible for Spanish players to gamble on unlicensed gambling websites without any penalty.

– The number of Spanish casinos was 42 in 2013, 43 in 2014, 43 in 2015, 45 in 2016, and is currently 60 as of March 2018.

– Ironically, El Gordo once landed in a small town called Sort, Catalan word for ‘luck’.

– In addition to the aforementioned games, cockfighting, dominoes, bullfighting, and card games are some of the most loved games in Spain. Particularly, bullfighting is a tradition in Spain, especially Madrid; the region features the largest bullfighting industry on the planet and the events are visited by thousands of people per year. Gambling on bullfighting is not permitted by law but small gambling facilities and illegal outlets usually offer fixed-odds betting on bullfighting events.

– Spanish gambling websites are required to use the .es domain name extension.

– Out of 60 casinos, Grupo Pro operates about 10 while Cirsa and Grupo Orenes individually operate about five.

– American casino company Las Vegas Sand Corporation is expected to open a 12-complexes casino in Spain in 2022 with inspirations from Las Vegas. Similarly, the BCN World in Tarragona, Catalonia will soon be transformed into an entertainment center (casino, golf, and hotel); the project was announced in 2012 but kick-started in 2017.

– In July 2013, Spain hosted the World Gaming Summit.

– Spanish poker players are only allowed to participate in regional, national, and international poker tournaments as they are not allowed to participate in offshore poker tournaments; this is the case in Italy and France as well.

– Pertaining Bitcoin gambling, the authorities (primarily El Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas), while responding to Coinffeine, a Spain-based P2P Bitcoin exchange platform, in 2014, classified Bitcoin gambling as online gambling so licenses are required prior offering their services. This was a surprise because most countries in and outside Europe either criminalize or are completely ignorant when it comes to cryptocurrencies. More interestingly, Spanish tax authorities recently announced their interest in collecting taxes on any kind of cryptocurrency mining within Spain.