The company has been granted two licenses by the local gambling regulator – Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) – that would permit it to provide online sports betting and casino gaming products in the Spanish market.

GiG said that it would enter the local gambling space with its flagship Rizk brand. The recently obtained licenses also certify the online gambling group’s proprietary gaming platform and sportsbook and enable it to sell these to third-party licensed operators.

GiG said in a press release issued on Monday that it expects to launch its operations in the Spanish market sometime in the fourth quarter of the year and to scale them up in the first quarter of 2020.

Commenting on their upcoming entry into the Spanish betting and gaming space, GiG CEO Robin Reed said:

“We are delighted to be awarded the Spanish licences and are looking forward to serving the market with our top performing operator Rizk and our full suite of B2C and B2B products and solutions.”

Mr. Reed also noted that with an annual growth of approximately 20%, Spain is Europe’s fastest growing regulated gambling market, even though the online segment represents only 12% of the whole market, compared to more than 50% in other European jurisdictions with regulated gambling. The GiG said that he considers that a “great opportunity” for his company.

Becoming a Global Operator

GiG’s expansion in Spain is fully in line with the company’s expansion strategy in regulated and fast growing markets. In its Monday press release, the gambling group said that it being issued licenses by DGOJ represented another important step toward materializing its ambitions to become a “global operator and partner for strong brands in iGaming.”

The company further revealed that it seeks to cement itself as a leader in “a few select markets with its B2C brands,” while expanding globally by forging B2B partnerships.

News about GiG’s Spanish licenses came on the same day when rival gambling operator LeoVegas announced that it has, too, been granted a license by DGOJ to enter Spain’s digital gaming and betting spaces.

GiG currently holds licenses and/or platform certifications by the gambling regulators of Malta, the UK, the German State of Schleswig-Holstein, Sweden, and Latvia. The company believes that, among other things, its newly obtained Spanish licenses will serve as a gateway to the Latin American markets and that GiG’s establishment in these markets is “a key priority.”

As mentioned earlier, the gambling group plans to enter the Spanish market with its flagship brand Rizk. GiG announced last month that it has launched its proprietary sportsbook on its other major brand – Guts – as part of its strategy to reposition Guts as a sports betting-focused brand, while promoting Rizk as a casino-focused operation. GiG’s in-house sportsbook first went live in June 2018 with Rizk.