Spain’s Latest Revenue Results Show Evolving iGambling Market

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Wednesday, June 8th, 2016 | Written by Adam Brown

In many parts of Europe, online gaming is struggling to bring in revenues, but there is one country that is seeing continued growth in the iGaming industry–Spain. While neighboring nations are seeing lackluster revenues, Spain is enjoying steady growth in online gaming, and with the country in the midst of a recession, the online casino boom couldn’t come at a better time.

First Quarter 2016 Numbers

The Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) , the government agency responsible for regulating online gaming in Spain, recently released the first quarter revenue report for 2016. The report showed that:

– Overall online gambling was €102.32 million, which marked a 32 percent increase compared to the first quarter 2015 revenues, which were €77.42 million

– Overall online gambling revenue increased by 7.97 percent from the €94.76 million generated during the fourth quarter of 2015

– Total customer deposits at online gambling sites totaled €271.17 million, up 39.98 percent from the €242.08 million reported at the end of the first quarter of 2015

– Total customer deposits in Spain increased by 12 percent compared to the 4th quarter of 2015

What’s Driving the Success?

One of the key factors behind the success of online gaming in Spain is advertising. During the first quarter of 2016, online gaming sites spent €32.71 million on marketing, up 46.06 percent from the €22.39 million invested in advertising during the first quarter of 2015. Spanish online casinos also spent 40.53 percent more on advertising this quarter than they did in the final quarter of 2015.

Advertising isn’t the only thing driving the online gambling market; successful Spanish soccer teams are also helping the industry boom. Sports wagering brought in €58.65 in gross gaming revenue in Q1 of 2016, up 29 percent from Q1 of 2015 and up almost 10 percent from the fourth quarter 2015 numbers. Many football fans place bets live online just before soccer matches and other professional sporting events, liking the convenience of being able to place a wager whenever they want from a mobile device or computer.

Online casino games are also generating a lot of revenue for Spanish online gambling sites. The vertical generated gross gaming revenue was €58.65 in the first quarter of 2016, marking a 104.13 percent increase over the €12.27 million that online casino games brought in during the same period in 2015. Compared to the fourth quarter revenues of €22.63 million, online casino games grew by 10.62 percent during the first quarter of this year.

Where Spain Is Lacking

While there is a lot of success to celebrate in Spain’s online gambling market, online poker is lagging behind. While other verticals grew, online poker gross gambling revenue fell 12.03 percent to €14.79 compared to €16.81 million for Q1 of 2015. Compared to the fourth quarter 2015 numbers, the online poker market did grow by around 1.59 percent, though. Still, the data indicates that Spain is in dire need of a player pooling compact to increase liquidity and encourage more players to head to the virtual poker tables.

Benefits of Shared Player Pools

The major European markets of France, Spain, and Italy chose to ring-fence their poker players from those of other countries following regulation. However, there are now hopeful signs that they are becoming more open to the prospect of sharing their players across national borders. That’s because they can no longer ignore the success of Europe’s most liberated gambling market in the UK, compared to the dire straights of their own respective online poker industries.

Portugal has already overturned its own online poker laws to allow international firms to offer poker games to players located in other EU countries, although restrictions still exists preventing a site sharing its online poker players with that of other networks. In the meantime, the French Senate has approved a motion to permit shared player liquidity with players based in other regulated EU markets, and as the country’s regulator ARJEL commented after the positive development:

“ARJEL welcomes the adoption by the Senate of the sharing of poker liquidities with European countries presenting a high level of regulation.”

As of yet no timeline has been set as to when such a deal may be finalized with countries such as Italy, Spain or Portugal. One can be certain, however, that a slow and complicated process lies ahead before liquidity sharing becomes a reality.