Key points:
- Total online gaming GGR came to €348.1m, up 14.4% year-on-year and 0.5% quarter-on-quarter
- Generally, year-on-year growth across verticals was higher than quarter-on-quarter growth
- Casino and bingo saw both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth, while betting and poker did not
Spain’s Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) has reported results relating to the nation's online gambling market for the third quarter of 2024.
In total, gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the quarter came to €348.1m ($366.5m), up 14.4% year-on-year and 0.5% quarter-on-quarter. Of this, €188m, or 54%, came from casinos, €135.9m, or 39.1%, came from betting, €20.5m, or 5.9%, came from poker and the remaining €3.7m, or 1.1%, came from bingo. Nothing was raised during the quarter from contests.
According to results, there are 77 licensed operators in Spain.
Casino
Across Spain’s 51 casinos, GGR was up 17.3% year-on-year and 9.5% quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year, blackjack saw the most significant growth, up 49.4%, with slot GGR up 25.8% and live roulette up 4.7%. Slot machines were just able to edge out blackjack in quarter-on-quarter growth, however, up 13.7% to blackjack’s 12.4%.
Betting
There are currently 42 licensed betting operators in Spain. Despite the vertical accounting for close to 40% of the market, GGR was down 6.6% quarter-on-quarter, though year-on-year, the vertical was one of Spain’s largest growth segments, up 19.8%. Quarter-on-quarter, pre-match bets fell 24.3% and horse betting fell 22%, while in-play and other bets saw GGR increase quarter-on-quarter, up 8.7% and 20.9% respectively.
Poker
Both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, poker GGR was down in Q3, at a rate of 19.7% and 23.5% respectively. Primarily, this was driven by a decrease in poker tournament GGR, down 29% quarter-on-quarter and 27% year-on-year. Poker cash was also down year-on-year, falling 13.7%, though quarter-on-quarter it was up 15.4%.
Bingo
Finally, bingo saw growth both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, though these numbers were far smaller compared to other verticals. Year-on-year, bingo GGR was up 0.7%, while quarter-on-quarter, this increased to 1.7%.
Deposits and withdrawals, new accounts and marketing
Player deposits were up 23.9% year-on-year and 4.6% quarter-on-quarter, with withdrawals following a similar pattern, up 30.3% year-on-year and 7.4% quarter-on-quarter. In total, deposits came to €1.14bn, with withdrawals totalling €802.2m.
A total of 459,543 new accounts were opened in the quarter (averaging at 153,181 per month), up 1.7% from last quarter and 42.4% from this time last year. The number of active online game accounts is now estimated at 1.44 million; a third more than this time last year.
Marketing expenses came to €131.7m, up a sizeable 40.9% year-on-year; not too dissimilar to the growth rate of new player accounts from this time last year. Of this, €13.2m went to affiliation expenses, €1.3m to sponsorships, €66.8m to promotions and €50.4m to advertising. Both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, all of these figures reflect an increase, with the year-on-year increase in each of these marketing verticals being between 40% and 52% (bar affiliation, which saw expenses grow 13.7%).
