Spain fines Zona Gemelos company over links promoting unlicensed operator Locowin

Spain's gambling regulator sanctioned Make Money Now, the company behind the Zona Gemelos creator platform, for promoting Locowin, an online gambling operator that did not hold a Spanish licence. The DGOJ says the marketing included affiliate links and commercial messages distributed through Instagram, Kick, X and Discord.

The original sanction was €10,000 and required the illegal advertising to be removed. The regulator classed the conduct as a serious infringement under the Gambling Regulation Act. The formal decision identifies Locowin in the links and publications and records that the material was removed.

After the administration first requested information, Make Money Now removed the advertising. The company then accepted responsibility and paid voluntarily before the final resolution. Spanish administrative procedure allowed two reductions, bringing the amount actually paid to €6,000.

The lower payment is not a reversal of the finding. The DGOJ says the company used the statutory reductions and gave up further administrative action. Reporting only the €10,000 headline misses the amount paid; reporting only €6,000 misses the original sanction and the reason it changed.

Zona Gemelos is known for livestreamed reality formats including La casa de los gemelos and La cárcel de los gemelos. The ministry highlighted the need to monitor content and platforms with large young audiences, which it views as especially sensitive to the risks of online gambling and unlicensed operators.

That concern does not establish that minors gambled through the links. The notice gives no age breakdown, click count or account data. The confirmed conduct is commercial promotion to a broad digital audience; any claim about individual viewers or resulting gambling activity would need separate evidence.

The DGOJ expressly describes the activity as online gambling affiliate marketing. That matters for publishers and creators who assume a link is less risky than operating the gambling service. Spanish enforcement can address the promotional route even when the publisher does not run the casino or sportsbook receiving the traffic.

The case does not ban all gambling affiliate content. It concerns promotion of an operator without the licence required in Spain. A publisher reviewing an offer needs to verify the destination operator, the authorised domains and the market in which the message will be seen before treating a commercial link as safe.

The Zona Gemelos sanction appeared in a wider first-quarter release covering nine final administrative decisions and €10.2905 million in penalties. Two foreign unlicensed operators received €5 million sanctions each, while seven serious-infringement decisions accounted for €290,500.

Those totals provide enforcement context, not an extra penalty against Make Money Now. The company-specific record remains the €10,000 sanction, reduced to a €6,000 payment after removal and acceptance. Any later court, payment or advertising update would need to be checked against the DGOJ's sanctions register.

The earlier public summary left the promoted operator unnamed, but the formal decision identifies Locowin. It also records that the relevant links and publications were removed, responsibility was accepted and the reduced €6,000 amount was paid. Those details are now part of the article’s evidence map rather than inferred from surrounding coverage.

The administrative procedure is therefore concluded on the regulator’s record. A later judicial case could create a new procedural layer, but no such ruling was located. Until then, the source-backed outcome is a paid €6,000 sanction tied to the named company, material and operator. The wider quarterly total remains outside this individual case.