TopGambling

Spain legalized online gambling in 2011. Since then, several operators have applied for licenses to operate in the country, which historically has been profitable as Spaniards love gambling.

As usual, the list of operators is limited to those able to pass a complicated validation process. For example, [URL="https://www.888casino.es/"][U]888 in Spain[/U][/URL] had to fulfill several requirements, including a certified RNG, having a responsible game team, setting limits on players, and offering self-exclusion features, among other requirements. Right now, there are 80 licensed operators, divided as follows:


[LIST][*]Sports betting: 40 [*]Casino: 43 [*]Poker: 9 [*]Bingo: 3 [*]Contests: 2 [/LIST]

It's no surprise, then, that sports and casinos have the best results, as we shall see.

[B]The DGOJ releases 2019 report[/B]

Last month, the [I]Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego, [/I]the gambling authority in Spain, released the annual report of the online gambling market in the country, a document that includes financial numbers of all [URL="https://www.gpwa.org/forum/spanish-online-operators-agree-new-rules-regarding-welcome-bonuses-adverts-250694.html"][U]licensed operators[/U][/URL], divided by game:


[LIST][*]Sports betting; [*]Bingo; [*]Casino; [*]Contests. [*]Poker; [/LIST]

The good news is that the [URL="https://www.gpwa.org/forum/gross-revenue-vs-net-gaming-220560.html"][U]Gross Gaming Revenue[/U][/URL] (GGR) grew 7,04%, from €699M to €748,3M, but the number of active players decreased 6,7% to 1,370,288.

The segments that are driving the market growth are sports betting (+3,34%), casino (+14,93%), contests (+166,23%), while poker had a slight decrease (-0,68%) and bingo had an unusual change of -5,6%.

The Spanish favorite game is slots, followed by roulette. Blackjack had gone from 29% market share in 2014 to only 8% in 2019. It is worth noting that Spaniards prefer live roulette rather than the online version.

Slots deserve an additional comment: in the last two years, it has gone from €86M (2017) to €157M (2019), almost a two-fold in terms of GGR.

Over the past five years, only casino and sports betting have shown a growth trend, while poker and the other games remain almost the same. This a global trend, and poker is even considered to be in crisis for several years.

[B]€372M in marketing expenses[/B]

The marketing expense is also related to market share growth: the expense went from €346M to €372M. Bonuses and publicity account for over 80% this number. Several restrictions were set in 2020, and most likely, this number will drastically change in the next report.

On the other hand, the number of active players was 6,7% lower compared to 2018.

Deposits and withdrawals show an exponential growth of 15,84% and 20,44%, respectively. Both numbers are impressive because they prove that Spain players are actively investing money in gambling despite the reduction in the number of active accounts.

Poker tournaments are winning the match over cash games: in 2014, the ratio was 40/60, but now tournaments represent 65% of the total GGR. This can be explained by the marketing that shows players who make hundreds of thousands of dollars after winning a low buy-in satellite ticket.

Like almost all countries, in Spain, sports betting is the most profitable market with over 50% of the GGR, followed by casino (36,52%), and poker (10,85%).

The DGOJ also shared data for the first three months of 2020, and the trend showed a 17,65% GGR growth, mainly driven by sports betting casino and poker. This last one had a 20,76% growth compared to the same period in 2019. Unfortunately, this trend will drastically change in the remainder of 2020, due to quarantines and restrictions on gambling and marketing set in Spain.