Spain Regulator Reported 2019 Online Gambling Revenue Growth

Online gaming activities in Spain has grown in 2019, as the numbers released by the Dirección General del Ordenación del Juego /DGOJ/, the national gambling regulator, show gross gaming revenue /GGR/ of €748.5 million, up by 7.1% year-on-year.

2019 Growth

Despite Q4 revenue in decline, growth across all but two verticals managed to push annual revenue up, sports betting having the largest share of contribution by €378.6 million for the year, up 3.7%.

The biggest revenue jumps came from real-money contest and casino, up 170% to €2.7 million for the former and 15.2% rise to €273.9 million for the latter, but the biggest jumping vertical does not contribute much to the total nominal-wise.

The biggest slumps in revenue were accounted from poker, down marginally to €81.3 million, and bingo down 9.7% to €12.1 million.

Q4 Slump

Receipts from online gambling in the country fell in the fourth quarter, though, making it the second of the year that marked a decrease in revenue year-on-year, with Q4 revenue down 2.1% to €185.6 million, mainly due to the slide in sports betting and poker.

Sports Betting

Revenue from sports book operations fell 10.2% to €89.9 million, and poker money were down 4.0% to €20.0 million, leaving in-play betting to take the leading place in terms of generating revenue source, with Q4 contribution of €55.5 million to the vertical’s total, even managing to offset part of the 29.7% decline in revenue from pre-match betting that was down to €31.9 million.

Casino

The other part of the slump was partially offset by an 11.7% rise in casino’s revenue, to €72.3 million for the quarter, slots being the main contributor in the casino vertical after revenue from slot machines rose 13.8% to €41.5 million, followed by roulette, where revenue posted at €9.4 million, up 6.2%, for the traditional online games, and €15.9 million, up 24.9%, for live roulette.

Blackjack

Blackjack, however, was down 17.4% to €5.5 million, struggling to keep up the pace, but not as much as bingo revenue that fell down 24.0% to €2.7 million for the quarter, in which real-money contest revenue posted an even more impressive jump percentage-wise, up 260.3% to €608,375.

Advertising Expenditure

Advertising expenditure by legal gambling operators expanded in the fourth quarter, with licensees’ expenditure posting €56.8 million, up 10.8%, followed by bonus offers at €39.5 million, while spending towards affiliates rose 6.4% to €10.9 million, and sponsorship deals expenditure was €5.8 million.

New Restrictions Regarding Gambling-Related Ads

Recently, the gaming regulator in Spain imposed new restrictions related to gambling-related advertising, targeted at protecting public health, as by the end of Q4 of 2019, active player account numbers averaged 972,724, up 13.3% year-on-year, with an average of 301,432 new player accounts registered during the fourth quarter.