Online gambling is no longer outside Spain’s CPI calculation. According to INE, online gambling activities entered the Consumer Price Index under the 2025 base, which applies from the January 2026 data.
This move does not create gambling regulation or additional taxation. It represents an adjustment of how the state gathers information on household prices. INE employs automatic web scraping to acquire data from major betting websites. The process helps statisticians monitor an online sector where price information is published digitally and can change quickly.
Why the Basket Changed
The Spanish CPI basket is periodically renewed in relation to consumer behavior. The 2025 base incorporates a new version of the European classification of consumption, namely ECOICOP Version 2. In addition, the CPI structure now has 13 main consumption groups instead of 12.
According to INE, the CPI Base 2025 basket now includes 487 items, up from 462 in the previous base. Among the products added to it are avocados, blueberries, tea-flavored soft drinks, beer with lemon, and X-rays. Products like neckties and handkerchiefs have been removed.
Online betting follows the same logic. While betting was part of the CPI in the 2016 base, what has changed now is the addition of the online component.
How the Scraping System Works
The INE approach uses web scraping on a selection of categories where it is possible to obtain online prices at scale. INE says the use of automatic data collection methods is expanding across the CPI system, including web scraping and scanner data.
The approach does not mean that all web-scraped prices are added directly to the index. INE first computes average prices, creates indices for lower categories, and feeds them into their appropriate ECOICOP category. The methodology has quality control measures for records, matching products, and classification stability.
These considerations are particularly important for betting platforms. Gambling sites tend to change products, price displays, and product names. A price collection system has to separate useful price signals from website noise.
Inflation Pressure Adds Context
Inflation in Spain rose to 3.6% in May on an EU-harmonized basis, according to Reuters, citing data from the INE. The euro zone figure was 3.0% in April. The German harmonized inflation rate declined to 2.7% in May, but Italian inflation rose to 3.3%.
That does not mean that online betting is causing Spain’s inflation problems. The point is that Spain wants a CPI basket that catches digital spending before it becomes invisible in official data.
Signals for the Market
Licensed online operators are entering wider economic monitoring, not only gambling supervision. Spain’s approach may also give other European statistics offices a practical model if digital betting becomes harder to ignore in household spending data.
