Spanish iGaming Continues to Surge With First Quarter's 20% Annual Rise in Revenue

Spanish gaming authority, La Direccion General de Ordenacion del Juego (DGOJ), has revealed the figures for the first quarter of this year that show a big leap compared to the equivalent period of 2018. According to them, both the sports betting and casino verticals have contributed to the annual rise of 20.1%.

Looking at it as a whole, the Spanish market's gross gaming revenue up to March 31, 2019 was €193.3 million, which is a significant improvement from €163.3 million during the same period last year but also from the previous quarter, 2018 Q4, when the total revenue amounted to €189.2 million.

Most Verticals Doing Great

Sports betting, in general, was Spain's main source of income when it comes to gaming verticals...

...for, as shown in the report, licensed operators gained a 26.2% revenue increase from last year's Q1 – a total of €100.8 million. In face, sports betting income contributed to 52.2% of the total market profits in this quarter.

Significant growth was demonstrated in the online casino vertical, too – in it, a 20.2% revenue rise to €67.1 million was noted, which makes another 34.7% contribution of the Spanish iGaming market during the first quarter.

Marketing costs have increased as well – they were up by 21.4% and amounted to €92.3 million. Licensed operators spent €47.9 million on advertising during Q1, an additional €29.3 million on promotions, €10.2 million on affiliation costs and €4.9 million on sponsorships.

The higher level of spending did do the trick, though, as player growth was boosted: the amount of monthly active accounts rose 13.1% to 900,513.

The two segments that declined compared to last year were poker (1.4% decline in revenue to €21.2 million) and bingo (8.6% to €3.2 million).

A Very Exciting Market

After completing a very successful 2018, the market of this Western European country has become a very attractive destination for international operators...

...with notable brands such as GiG and GameArt applying for their respective iGaming licenses in hopes they will be able to kickstart their operations here.

This success, driven by the wildly successful sports betting season due to last year's World Cup, even prompted Spanish authorities to instate a brand-new regulatory body: Consego Asesor del Juego Responsible, which primarily deals with questions of development, execution and overall management of online gaming policies in the country.

It was Gaming Innovation Group's official statement upon requesting the Spanish license that shed light on this matter:

“Total Gross Gaming Revenue in Spain in 2017 was approximately $10bn, of which online gambling was 10%. Forecasts expect this to rise to more than 15% by 2023. Spain is looking into harmonising regulation relating to responsible gaming and gambling advertising, in line with other regulated markets, increasing player safety and market sustainability.”

Source:

“Spanish igaming market boosted by sports and casino in Q1”, igamingbusiness.com, June 3, 2019.