Spain’s Gambling Registered Marginal Quarterly Decrease

Spain’s national gambling regulator, the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling, released the industry figures for the second quarter of 2022.

Casino Gaming Leading the Way

For the three months ended June 30, 2022, licensed gaming operators in Spain registered gross gaming revenue (GGR) of €203.95 million ($206.6 million) to post a marginal decrease of 0.3% on the previous quarter and a 5.6% decrease when compared to the respective three-month period in 2021.

Spread across the verticals, Casino with €117.2 million ($108.7 million) accounted for the largest share of the total, 57.4%, followed by Sports Betting with €60.9 million ($61.7 million) representing 29.9% of the total.

Poker was the other vertical with a double-digit share, 11.1% of the total, with €22.5 million ($22.8 million), while Bingo added another 1.6%, €3.4 million ($3.4 million) in GGR. Fantasy contests accounted for just €10,000 ($10,100) registering just under half a percentage share.

Of all segments, only Casino registered growth, 5.6% on a sequential base and 17.3% year-over-year, driven by slot operations which increased by 23% as compared to the same three-month period in 2021 and live roulette with an increase of 15.4%.

The sports betting segment sunk 6.7% compared to the previous quarter and 33.8% year-over-year. Internal vertical dynamic showed single events betting jumped 15.2%, while in-play betting decreased by 23.1% on a sequential base. Horse trading increased by 172.6% while other betting markets sunk by 36%.

Poker and Bingo generated decreases when compared to the previous quarter of 7.9% and 6.6%, and increases of 10.8% and 2.7%, respectively, when compared to the second quarter of 2021.

The decrease in poker came from 8.3% less from tournaments and 6.99% less from cash games while on a sequential base these two posted increases of 6.3% and 21.34%, respectively.

Decrease in Marketing Costs

The quarterly results were achieved with less spending when compared to both the previous quarter and the second quarter of 2021. Operators spent on marketing their products and services €89.6 million ($90.8 million) which is 4.8% down from the previous quarter and 30.2% down to the respective period in 2021.

Of the total, licensees spent €49.5 million ($50.1 million) on promotions, €31.9 million ($32.3 million) on advertising, €7.9 million ($8 million) on affiliation services and €380,000 ($385,000) on sponsorships. Promotion costs, when broken down, showed €21.5 million ($21.8 million) in prize money and €28 million ($28.3 million) in other promotions.

Advertising spending in the quarter was 7.4% down on the previous quarter of 2022 and 48.3% lower than the advertising spending in the second quarter of 2021; affiliate and promotion costs also decreased by 11.6% and 1.3% on a sequential base.

The quarter saw player deposits increase by 0.6% despite the decrease in the number of active monthly gaming accounts of 2.4% to 996,149 when compared to the previous account as new accounts decreased by 5.5%.