Spain: Online gaming GGR reaches $335 million in Q2, up over 50% Y-o-Y

Spain's Directorate General for the Regulation of Gaming (DGOJ), the Spanish regulator of the online sector, issued its second-quarter report for 2023 and announced that the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) in that period reached EUR 312.6 million ($335.5 million).

This amount reflects an increase of 2.52% compared to the previous quarter and of 55.06% compared to the second quarter of 2022 when there was a GGR of EUR 203.95 million ($205.45 million). Thus, for the second consecutive quarter, a year-on-year increase of more than 50% points has been posted.

When analyzing the gross income by segments, the report indicates that EUR 149.86 million ($160.8 million) corresponds to the Casino segment, which represents 47.94% of the total; while EUR 133.31 million ($143.1 million) come from Betting, 42.64% of the total.

Officials also noted that EUR 27.76 million ($29.8 million) corresponds to Poker, 8.24% of the total; while EUR 3.54 million ($3.8 million) comes from Bingo, 1.13%; and EUR 140 thousand ($150 thousand) from Contests, 0.05%.

Regarding the Casino segment, the regulator reported a 4.53% growth compared to the first quarter of the year and a positive annual variation rate of 27.92%. "This annual growth is given in slot machines with 29.91% and in live roulette with 31.77%," the regulator specified.

The regulator added that slots generated an 8.93% increase over the previous quarter, while conventional roulette grew 0.2% and live roulette dropped 0.84%.

As for the Betting segment, the DGOJ reported a growth rate over the previous quarter of 2.07% and 118.9% year-on-year. The regulator added that conventional counterpart sports betting increased by 1.81% and live betting by 3.47% compared to the previous quarter.

In addition, the report detailed that horse racing counterparts grew by 22.67% and that other counterparts decreased by 15.08%.

The Poker segment, on the other hand, presented a drop of 5.84% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 27.57% compared to 2022. With respect to the previous period, tournament poker decreased by 2.77%, while cash poker decreased by 13.58%. The regulator added that the annual variation rates are positive at 38.12% and 4.85%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Bingo experienced a 5.54% growth compared to the previous quarter and a 5.51% growth compared to the same period of 2022. Additionally, Contests reported a 41.5% drop compared to the beginning of the year and a year-on-year increase of 1,464.85%. "This segment presents an irregular behavior with annual variation rates in the second quarter of 733.02% in 2020; -87.09% in 2021; -98.19% in 2022," according to the report.

Players and marketing

The report also noted that the monthly average of active gaming accounts is 1,134,993, an amount that reflects a 2.04% drop from the previous quarter, although a year-on-year increase of 11.43%. Aditionally, the monthly average of new accounts is 102,804 users, with a quarterly decrease of 7.71% and a year-on-year decrease of 2.96%.

The report also indicated that of the 78 licensed iGaming platforms, operations in the Casino segment were operated by 50; in the Betting segment, 43; in the Poker segment, 9; in the Bingo segment, 3; and in the Contests segment, 2.

Players' deposits and withdrawals increased their variation rates with respect to the previous year by 19.62% and 2.97%, respectively; and, with respect to the previous quarter, deposits fell by 2.01% and withdrawals by 2.33%.

Marketing expenditure amounted to EUR 94.64 million ($100.70 million) in the quarter, up 1.9% year-on-year and 2.97% year-on-year. This, in turn, is divided into membership expenses of EUR 12.29 million ($13.1 million); sponsorship of EUR 1.22 million ( $1.3 million); promotions of EUR 48.96 million ($52.3 million); and advertising of EUR 34.17 million ($36.5 million).

Advertising showed positive rates of 9.73% and 7.65% over the previous quarter and year, respectively, and affiliate spending increased by 0.04% over the previous quarter and by 56.21% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, sponsorship spending fell by 0.12% with respect to the previous quarter and grew by 225.15% on a year-over-year basis. In addition, promotions decreased by 2.45% compared to the previous quarter and by 1.71% compared to 2022.

Finally, the report indicated that promotions were divided into EUR 13.5 million ($14.4 million) in bonuses released in prizes and EUR 35.46 million ($37.9 million) in non-prize bonuses.