SELAE commissions for vendors have remained largely unchanged since 2002, even as rising costs continue to erode profitability.

Key Points

Lottery vendors must sell high volumes of tickets each month just to cover basic expenses like self-employment fees.

Vendors warn that SELAE’s planned centralised online platform could create a digital monopoly and cut into their income.

Last year, the National Commission on Markets and Competition rejected complaints from over 300 vendors, finding no evidence that SELAE restricts their online sales

Spain’s lottery vendors are again warning of growing financial pressure as rising costs and static commissions continue to erode profitability. Commissions earned have not changed significantly since 2002.

Local media estimates that a SELAE vendor needs to sell approximately 6,800 La Primitiva tickets each month to cover an average self-employment fee of around €400, given that the commission per ticket is only about €0.059. Meanwhile, for Euromillones, which generates a €0.14 commission, about 2,900 tickets need to be sold.

At the same time, criticism is mounting over SELAE's plans to develop a centralised online sales platform. Vendors fear this could effectively create a digital monopoly, excluding them from online sales, a channel that is an increasingly important source of their income.

In this context, Jon Urkiola, president of Digital Defence and Lottery Retailers in the Fight, reflects the sector’s concerns clearly: “Alongside the freezing of lottery prices since 2002, a 60% increase in operating costs, and the resulting 60% loss of profitability for points of sale, there is now the threat of SELAE imposing a monopoly over online lottery sales.”

He adds that this “would strip small vendors of 30% of their income and force thousands of them, especially small and rural ones, to close.”

Back in 2025, the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) dismissed the case brought by the Plataforma Juego Limpio, which represents more than 300 lottery vendors. The group accused SELAE of indirectly favouring large lottery outlets such as Doña Manolita and La Bruja de Oro.

The complaint argued that SELAE prohibited retailers from selling its products online and required them to redirect customers to the state operator’s official website. According to the group, this resulted in a “loss of both current and potential customers,” as sales were billed directly by SELAE rather than by the originating retailer.

However, the CNMC rejected these claims. In its ruling, the authority stated that “there is insufficient evidence of the alleged restriction of online sales” by SELAE. It also clarified that contracts with retailers do not explicitly prohibit online sales but instead subject them to authorisation and specific security and control requirements.

 

 

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