The Spanish National Gambling Commission says Spain will begin issuing its first round of online gambling licenses by the end of March. Juan Carlos Alfonso Rubio, the organization's Deputy General Director, said in a statement last week that the licenses would be delivered a full three months ahead of the previously postponed June deadline.

Following Spain's May 2011 parliamentary approval of legalized online gambling, the country planned to implement new online gambling regulations by January 1 of 2012. That date was pushed back to June due to concerns that the license application review process would not be completed on time.

Those operators that are awarded a Spanish online gambling license will have a decisive advantage over those that do not. In 2010, the Spanish online gambling market was valued at €465 million, with growth expected to reach €680 million by 2015.

Still, they will be subject to a hefty 25 percent tax on gross profits. Of the many regulated online gambling markets in the EU, this is one of the highest tax rates to be imposed on licensed operators.