Spain’s General Directorate of Gambling Regulation (DGOJ) has released results relating to the country’s online betting market in the third quarter of 2024.
In total, gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the quarter came in at €348.1 million ($366.5 million), an increase of 14.4% year-over-year and 0.5% quarter-over-quarter. Of this total, €188 million, or 54%, came from casinos, €135.9 million, or 39.1%, came from betting, €20.5 million, or 5.9%, came from poker and the €3 The remaining .7 million, or 1.1%, came from bingo. During the quarter, the contests raised nothing. There are 77 licensed operators in Spain.
How the game is distributed in Spain
Across Spain’s 51 casinos, GGR rose 17.3% year-on-year and 9.5% quarter-on-quarter. Year over year, blackjack saw the most significant growth, up 49.4%, with slot GGR up 25.8% and live roulette up 4.7%. Slot machines managed to surpass blackjack in quarter-over-quarter growth, however, rising 13.7% to blackjack’s 12.4%.
Bets
There are currently 42 licensed betting operators in Spain. Despite the vertical representing almost 40% of the market, GGR fell 6.6% in the quarter, although in the year the vertical was one of the biggest growth segments in Spain, rising 19.8%.
Quarter-over-quarter, pre-game betting fell 24.3% and horse betting fell 22%, while in-play and other bets saw GGR rise quarter-over-quarter, rising 8.7% and 20.9 %, respectively.
Poker
Both quarter-on-quarter and year-over-year, poker GGR fell in Q3, at a rate of 19.7% and 23.5%, respectively. Primarily, this was driven by a drop in poker tournament GGR, down 29% QoQ and 27% YoY.
Poker money was also down year over year, falling 13.7%, although quarter over quarter it was up 15.4%.
Bingo experienced growth both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, but these numbers were well below those of other sectors. Year-on-year, bingo GGR rose 0.7%, while quarter-on-quarter, it increased to 1.7%.
Deposits and withdrawals, new accounts and marketing
Player deposits increased 23.9% year over year and 4.6% quarter over quarter, with withdrawals following a similar pattern, increasing 30.3% year over year and 7.4% quarter over quarter. In total, deposits reached €1.14 billion, with withdrawals totaling €802.2 million.
A total of 459,543 new accounts were opened in the quarter (average of 153,181 per month), an increase of 1.7% compared to the last quarter and 42.4% compared to the same period last year. We now estimate that 1.44 million active online gaming accounts are registered, an increase of a third compared to last year.
Marketing expenses reached €131.7 million, a considerable increase of 40.9% year on year. Therefore, the growth rate of new player accounts remained similar to the same period last year.
Of this, €13.2 million went to affiliation expenses, €1.3 million to sponsorships, €66.8 million to promotions and €50.4 million to advertising. Both quarterly and year-over-year, all of these numbers reflect an increase, with the year-over-year increase in each of these marketing verticals being between 40% and 52% (bar membership, which saw expenses grow 13.7% ).
