The Spanish online gambling market is growing, and according to the recently published report, the online gambling revenue in the country grew to €315.3 million (£269.8m/$342.0m) during the fourth quarter of 2023, which represents an increase of 0.6% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. The total deposits increased as well.
Most popular games
But the growth hasn’t been noticed only on an annual level – compared to the third quarter, gross gaming revenue increased by 3.6%.
The main source of revenue was casinos, and it seems its popularity among the Spanish players is increasing even further over time. Casinos brought in €171.3 million, which is 54.3% of the total revenue earned in the fourth quarter in the whole of Spain. The popularity of slot games increased in this key European market, so the revenue generated from slot games increased by 25.9%, while live roulette games earned 15.3% more than was the case before.
Sports betting was also incredibly popular among Spanish players. According to iGaming Business, the revenue generated from sports betting was €114.7 million, which is 36.4% of the total amount collected. Poker generated €25.4 million, which is 8.1% of total revenue.
On the other hand, it seems that poker tournaments aren’t as popular as they used to be. A decrease of 0.5% was recorded compared to the previous period, while poker cash had a negative variation rate of 7.0%.
Spanish players love bingo as well, so bingo generated €3.8 million, which is 1.2% of the total revenue. On top of that, contests earned about €50,000.
Deposits and marketing activities
Players were willing to spend a lot of money on various online gambling activities, so the total was €1.04 billion when it comes to the money the players deposited in their accounts during the fourth quarter, which marks an increase of 9.4% compared to the same period in 2022.
There were 1,269,585 active accounts every month on average, which is 6.9% more than in 2022. But it seems these revenue figures were pulled by old players, since the number of new accounts created dropped by 2.3%, as the monthly average was 129,207 accounts.
The operators have spent €113.0 million on various marketing activities, which is 5.3% more than in 2022. Promotions took €53.0 million, €45.2 million was spent on advertising, while €14.0 million was spent on affiliates. Sponsorships took €750,000.
In Q4, Spain recorded 78 licensed active operators. A total of 49 were licensed for casino games, 43 for sports betting services, nine of them offered poker, three bingo games, and two contests.
Source: Fletcher, Robert. “Spain: online gambling revenue edges up to €315.3m in Q4”. iGB. February 27, 2024.