Spain: Online gaming grows by 15% in the first quarter of 2024 and exceeds $380 million

The Directorate General for the Regulation of Gaming (DGOJ), the regulator of the online gaming sector in Spain, has issued its market report for the first quarter of 2024. During Q1, operators reported Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) of EUR 350.69 million, equivalent to $381.4 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 15.14% and 11.23% over the previous quarter.

Gross revenues were distributed as follows: EUR 167.76 million ($182.5 million) in casino (47.84%); EUR 150.28 million ($163.5 million) in betting (42.85%); EUR 28.45 million ($30.9 million) in poker (8.11%); EUR 4.19 million ($4.56 million) in bingo (1.19%); EUR 2,000 ($2,175) in contests.

Regarding the casino segment, there was a year-on-year increase of 17%, although a drop of 2.05% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 was observed. This year-on-year growth was noted in slot machines with 14.98% and in live roulette with 22.19%.

Compared to the previous quarter, conventional roulette increased its rate by 9.69%, blackjack by 7.32%, and live roulette by 6.37%, while slot machines decreased by 7.51%.

As for betting, there was a year-on-year increase of 15.37% and an increase of 30.99% compared to the previous quarter. In this segment, conventional sports betting increased by 588.84%, while live betting decreased by 31.69% over the prior quarter. Horse racing bets decreased by 28.36%, while other counterparts bets increased by 1.57%.

In poker, there was an increase of 11.98% compared to the previous quarter and 3.99% compared to the same period of 2023. Tournament poker grew by 11.19%, while cash poker grew by 13.91%. The annual rates of change are positive at 2.04% and 8.91%, respectively.

Finally, bingo experienced a growth of 9.18% compared to the previous quarter and 24.93% compared to the same quarter of 2023; while contests fell 99.38% compared to the previous year. According to the report, this segment presents an irregular behavior with annual variation rates in the first quarter of -7.59% in 2021, -85.15% in 2022, and -4.89% in 2023.

Users and Marketing

The DGOJ's quarterly report also reported that player deposits and withdrawals increased year-on-year by 15.85% and 13.9% respectively. The monthly average of active gaming accounts was 1,327,575, which implies a growth of 4.57% over the previous quarter and a positive annual variation of 14.58%.

Likewise, the monthly average of new accounts was 148,862 users, with a quarterly increase of 15.21% and an annual rate of 33.64%. Of the 78 licensed operators, during the first quarter of 2024, 50 operated in the casino segment, 41 in betting, nine in poker, four in bingo, and two in contests.

In terms of marketing expenditure, EUR 112.79 million ($122.8 million) was invested in the first quarter of 2024, broken down into EUR 55.67 million ($60.6 million) in promotions, EUR 41.78 million ($45.5 million) in advertising, EUR 14.27 million ($15.5 million) in affiliate expenses, and EUR 1.07 million ($1.2 million) in sponsorships.

These amounts represent a total year-on-year increase of 14.86%, broken down into variations of 22.49% in advertising, 14.82% in affiliates, 10.92% in promotions, and -27.23% in sponsorships.