Spanish gambling revenue up 12.5% in Q1

Gambling revenue in Spain grew 12.5% year-on-year to €218million for the first quarter of the year.

Spain.- Gambling revenue rose by 12.5 per cent year-on-year to €218million for the three months ending March 31. 

According the latest report by Spain’s gaming regulator, the Dirección General del Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), players staked €4.80billion in the first quarter, an increase of 3.6 per cent.

The sector saw growth in all verticals, including in sports betting despite the cancellation of sporting events from mid-March because of Covid-19.

The opening of new accounts increased by 5.6 per cent to 289,340, while the number of active accounts increased slightly to 911,218.

Sports betting remained the biggest vertical accounting for 50.8 per cent of all activity. Quarterly revenue grew 8.7 per cent year-on-year to €110.6million. In-play betting accounted for the majority, bringing in €61.3million (up 4 per cent) although fixed-odds betting saw the largest growth, up by 13.1 per cent to €46.3million. Fixed-odds betting on other kinds of events shot up by 91.3 per cent to €1.8million.

Casino revenue climbed 16.8 per cent to €77.6million with slots making up €43.2million (up 15.7 per cent) and live roulette leaping 35.6 per cent year-on-year to contribute €18.4million in revenue.

Standard online roulette did well too, generating €10.7million – up 16.7 per cent.

There were significant drops in revenue from blackjack, down 17.1 per cent to €5.3million, and punto y banca, which plunged 79.2 per cent year-on-year to a mere €614. 

Poker revenue grew 13.1 per cent to €24.2million due to a 15.9 per cent increase in tournament revenue to €16.1million and cash game growth of 7.9 per cent to €8.1million.

Bingo generated €3.7million (an increase of 14.7 per cent) with contest (prize draw) contributions up to €1.9million.

Operators spent €118.2million on marketing (up by 28.3 per cent), the biggest rise being a 45.9 per cent increase in the amount spent on bonus offers.

A total of €42.4million was spent on bonuses in Q1 – €20million on prizes and €22.3million on sign-up bonuses, which are set to be banned according to Spain’s draft Royal Decree on gambling promotion issued this week. 

The majority of marketing spend was on advertising, up 24 per cent to €59.5million. New restrictions will also curb gambling advertising in the country.