Spain took a significant step forward in providing a safe and fair online gambling atmosphere when they passed the Spanish Gambling Act last May. That particular legislation disallows unlicensed companies from providing online gaming to Spanish residents and travelers located within their borders. And this June, Spain moved to strengthen that legislation by creating the framework for judging exactly what online poker operators can and cannot do to become licensed, and thereby legally provide online poker in that country.

Under the new law, operators running online poker rooms in Spain must pay a hefty tax of 25% of all gambling revenue. Separate game and prize pools must be offered for Spanish players as well, and for quick identification, they must operate under a .es domain entity. The Department of Justice in the United States has passed similar laws disallowing online poker operators in the US on the federal level, with provisions for each individual state to create their own online poker product.

The going has been tough in these early stages of regulated online Spanish poker, but it seems some trends are starting to point in a positive direction for both online poker players in that country, as well as those operating licensed poker rooms on the Internet. When legalized poker services were first offered in Spain, cash gaming revenue plummeted. PokerStars.es immediately saw a drop of 15% in online poker traffic, but those players have returned recently, and estimates are that during the past three months visitation to legalized Spanish online poker rooms is at its highest point ever.

PokerStars.es has stated that they have as many as 1,500 registered cash game players who actively play online in Spain, and that is a whopping 40% rise over their numbers in June when legislation was first agreed upon. PokerStars.it is the Italian version of the globally popular online poker site, and the new PokerStars.es entity has already surpassed that website in popularity and appears to be heading toward becoming the largest online poker room in Spain. PokerStars.es has also proven to be tough competition for the six largest online poker room internationally, Winamax.fr, a French online poker service.

PartyPoker.es and 888Poker.es are two other noteworthy online poker playing entities in Spain, and PartyPoker.es has shown significant growth recently as well. They offer access to Spanish players to both their Party Poker and Bwin Poker sites, with the overall Party Poker network showing a 25% uptick in traffic since the new Spanish legislation. 888 Poker has shown that recent traffic increases as well, but is lagging behind their competitors due to recently denying access to any non-Spanish poker players on their .es website. It appears the new laws regarding online poker in Spain have been accepted by that country’s residents, and they are returning to the virtual tables in record numbers.