Spain requires online operators to verify payment methods match player accounts from 28 October

Spain will require online gambling operators from 28 October to check that the card or account a player uses to deposit, and to which the player requests a withdrawal, is held in the name of the same person who holds the gambling account. The requirement is set by Real Decreto 813/2026 of 7 October, published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 8 October, which amends Spain's anti-money-laundering regulation.

Players who already hold an open account have six months to complete the check. Until verification is completed they may deposit and play, but winnings remain on the account. Once the deadline passes, the operator terminates the contract, notifies the regulator and returns the balance, including winnings.

Spain already has a sector rule on identity: Real Decreto 1613 of 2011 identifies the player through a single user register and makes identification a condition for collecting any prize, with different verification times for residents and non-residents. The October change comes from the anti-money-laundering regulation, which adds to its article 21 a check on the payment method for gambling.

It was reported that in Italy the player's identity is already tied to the operation of the account, while the origin of the money rests on a formula that presumes a check without ordering it explicitly. The Italian remote concession agreement requires top-ups to be made only through payment instruments that allow identification of the holder of the gambling account making the credit, and withdrawals to be credited to the holder through traceable instruments he has indicated and the concessionaire has validated. The anti-money-laundering decree, at article 53, adds a 10-year retention requirement for the payment method used for each top-up and each collection.

Reportedly, the Italian text contains no named check of coincidence between the name on the card, account or electronic wallet and that of the gambling account, formulated as the Spanish rule does, nor a moment at which to carry it out. The same agreement permits top-ups at points of sale, including in cash and through different payment instruments, up to €100 a week.

It was reported that Denmark and the United Kingdom offer a comparison on the relationship between verification and the operation of the account, although referring to identity verification rather than the payment method. In Denmark, for online casino, only a temporary account is opened before verification, with deposits up to DKK10,000 and no payment to the player, and the operator must close it if the data prove false or if documents do not arrive within 30 days of the request. In the United Kingdom the Gambling Commission requires age and identity to be verified before the customer plays.

It was reported that the Italian anti-money-laundering decree, at article 52, requires concessionaires to monitor the type of instrument used for top-ups, the frequency and times, and the relationship between deposits and withdrawals. The article set out three interventions: comparing the holder of the instrument with the account holder when the instrument is registered and again at the first withdrawal; treating every discrepancy as a signal to be documented; and reading cash top-ups at points of sale together with the behaviour of the account.

It was reported that Italy's identification rules were amended from 13 November 2025 by ADM determination 704968 on the digital methods provided for by legislative decree 41 of 2024, allowing players to identify themselves with SPID or CIE, in which case the concessionaire does not have to request a copy of the document. The contract scheme approved by ADM ties the contract's effectiveness to receipt of the document; if the document expires, or the data are incomplete or wrong, the account is stopped, with no play, top-ups or withdrawals, and the customer has 60 days to regularise before the contract is terminated by operation of law.