March 1, 2020 3 min read

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.

Lead Editor

Mike made his mark on the industry at a young age as a consultant to companies that would grow to become regulators. Now he dedicates his weekdays to his new project a the lead editor of GamblingNews.com, aiming to educate the masses on the latest developments in the gambling circuit.

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