Spain Registers A Growth Of Its Online Gambling Market

Spain’s online gambling market grew 17.7% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020 as the growth of online casino and poker offset declines for sports betting in a period significantly affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In a period where sporting events around the world, including the country’s football leagues, were suspended due to Covid-19, sports betting endured a difficult quarter. Revenue came to €68.1m, which represented a 20.8% year-on-year decline. Pre-match, fixed-odds staking fell around 49.0%, with in-play wagers down of 39.6%, as total stakes across all products and bet types declined 40.4%.

However, a strong performance from online casino offset the betting vertical’s declines, and suggested players had shifted from one vertical to the other. Revenue grew on the prior year, with customer stakes up 25.3% to €2.86bn.

This was largely down to slot play, up 30.4% year-on-year, and more than 19.9% quarter-on-quarter. Live roulette continued to grow strongly. Poker, which has enjoyed a resurgence in countries under lockdown, saw revenue almost double, while bingo also enjoyed a strong quarter, with its contribution climbing 66.9% to €5.0m.

But monthly average active customer numbers and new account sign-ups declined over the quarter. At a time when strict controls were imposed on igaming licensees during Spain’s Covid-19 lockdown, marketing spend by operators dipped significantly.

The biggest drop was seen in advertising, bonusing also declined sharply, the only segment to see year-on-year growth in spend was sponsorship, for which operators’ expenditure was up to 16.2% However, this may soon be a thing of the past, after the Spanish government transferred a number of the temporary measures to its planned package of restrictions on gambling advertising.