Spain continues to boast seriously low problem gambling rates, calling into question the government’s strict new rules on online gambling marketing.

Thursday saw the release of Gambling & Society 2020, the annual market study by CEJUEGO, which represents Spain’s private gambling operators, with the able assistance of the University Carlos III of Madrid. The report says 30m Spaniards, roughly 85% of the population aged 18-75, engaged in some form of gambling last year, a figure that has remained relatively constant since 2015.

Lottery products offered by the state-run SELAE and ONCE, are the most popular form of gambling, with the annual Christmas draw lottery enjoying 74.5% participation. Around 3.5m Spaniards enjoyed ONCE’s scratch cards, up from 3m in the 2019 report, and this product also has the largest share of players under 35 years (50.5).

Some 6.5% of Spaniards (2.2m people) visited a local casino last year, down from 7.2% in 2018 and the lowest rate since 2016. Bingo halls also saw fewer visitors, falling two points from 2018 to 6.9% (2.4m). Gaming halls fared slightly better, dipping only 0.1 points to 8.1% (3m).