New Report: Gambling in Spain Sees a 12.5% Growth

Given that all forms of gambling in Spain are legal as long as you have a license, it is not surprising to see that gambling has experienced a great deal of growth in the last few years. Ever since the Gambling Act came into effect in 2011, and unified the regulation of gambling in the country, profits have increased exponentially in this location.

According to the Dirreccion General de Ordenacion del Juego (DGOJ), revenue increased by about €218,000,000 for the first three months of 2020, across all verticals of gambling. This indicates a 12.5% increase compared to what was seen around the same time last year.

It goes without saying that not all sectors did as well as others, especially given the restrictions and limitations brought on by the novel Coronavirus.

The breakdown

Since live sporting events were cancelled in March, sports betting is expected to take a knock over the next few months. However, the sector started out in a very promising manner between January and March with a €110,600,000 contribution, which is up 8.7% year-on-year, and accounts for 50.8% of the quarterly total.

Fixed odds betting, which acknowledged an increase of 13.1% to €46,300,000 in revenue, while in-play betting saw a jump of 4% and brought in €61,300,000.

Casinos saw an increase of almost 17% in revenue, bringing in almost €78,000,000. Slots cashed in over €43,000,000, while live roulette grew to 35.6% and generated €18,400,000.

Blackjack fell to 17.1% and only brought in €5,300,000, but still did better than Punto y Banca which didn’t even manage to scrape together €700.

Poker did well and saw growth of over 13% which generated €24,000,000 in revenue but, according to the DGOJ, was due to a 15.9% increase in tournament revenue which brought in €16,100,000. The cash game contribution increased to almost 8% and generated €8,100,000.

Finally, Bingo increased to 14.7% and brought in €3,700,000 and contributions from events where contestants paid for a chance to win a prize almost doubled to €1,900,000.

The quarter saw around 900,000 active online accounts, where new account sign ups increased by around 5%.

Gambling related marketing saw an annual growth of 28.34% with a split where bonuses of €20,030,000 were separated from prizes of €23,3400,000 for the first time in the report.

The Round Up

In a nutshell, of the 80 licensed operators during the first quarter of 2020, the following operators have had operations for each of the gaming segments:

• Casino: 43
• Bets: 40
• Poker: 9
• Bingo: 3
• Contests: 2

The future looks bright for Spanish gambling business but it remains to be seen what will truly take place once the effects of the Coronavirus has been felt.