Spanish gaming revenue down 57% year-on-year

The industry association Cejuego has reported that revenue in the first 10 months of 2020 was half that of the same period in 2019.

Spain.- Gambling revenue in Spain dropped by half for the first ten months of the year according to an annual report on gaming compiled by industry association Cejuego with the University Carlos III of Madrid.

The report shows gross revenue for all products and channels was €4.35bn for the period up until the end of October, down 50 per cent compared to the same ten months in 2019.

It marks an exacerbation of the decline already seen in the previous years with the revenue generated in 2019 down 6 per cent on previous figures. 

Of the revenue reported so far this year, private companies generated €2.45bn while the state-owned Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE) and Sociedad Estatal Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (SELAE) generated €1.9bn.

Last year for the full year, private operators generated €4.86bn and state-owned operators €4.59bn. Gaming represented 0.8 per cent of Spain’s GDP in 2019 with total revenue for the year of €10.23bn.

The gaming sector employed 84,797 people in 2019, with 47,047 at private operators, 18,463 at SELAE and 19,287 at ONCE.

Cejuegos CEO Alejandro Landaluce said: “Despite the fact the drop in income from gaming companies is higher than that recorded in other sectors such as fashion, automobiles or in-store sales in department stores, we have managed to reduce ERTES [temporary layoffs or reductions in hours] to 15 per cent of the workforce, so that 85 per cent of employees in the sector are working at the moment.”

Much of the decline in revenue was suffered in the retail sector. Numbers from the second quarter show that online gaming revenue climbed 17.7% year-on-year.

In October Spain implemented new restrictions on gaming advertising, including a ban on sponsorship in sports from next season.