Good Signs: Spanish Market Shows Robust Growth in 2022

The Spanish market thrived in 2022, according to new quarterly data.

The Total 

Gross Gaming Revenue in Spain reached nearly 20% in Q3 2022.

The Rise

Spain’s Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling announced Gross Gaming Revenue in Spain rose almost 20% in Q3 2022.

Quarterly Comparison

The Q4 GGR of €240.83m represents an increase of 18% from Q3 and 31% from Q4 2021.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Player deposits were up 26.72% year-on-year, and withdrawals were up 24.85% year-on-year and 4.6% sequentially, while withdrawals decreased by 8.7% in Q4 to indicate accelerating use of play and use of funds by players.  

Marketing Expenditure

Marketing expenditure in the Spanish market rose as well, with a sequential increase of 7.79% from Q3. A total of €96.31 million was spent in Q4 2022, spread across affiliation expenses (€10.34m); sponsorships (1.78m); promotions (41.47m); and advertising (42.73m).

New Accounts

The increased activity came from a more limited group of players, with new accounts decreasing by 4.01%. However, the deceleration in growth is fractional as the market continues to grow.

Vertical Breakdown

Vertically speaking, the €240m GGR was divided between Bets (€89.04m); Bingo (€3.68m); Casino (€127.95m in Casino representing 53.13% of the take); Contests (€0.03m for 0.01% of the take); and Poker (€20.14m).

Betting Figures

Betting saw the most robust Q4 GGR growth by far, with a 46.20% sequential increase over Q3, and 48.61% year-on-year from Q4 2021 figures. 

Other Vertical Growth

Bingo rose 9.63% sequentially and 4.64% year-on-year; while the casino segment grew 9.22% over Q3 2022 and 27.55% from Q4 2021. GGR for Poker in Q4 decreased 10.64% sequentially from Q3 2022 and was up 2.83% compared to Q3 2022.

Player Efficiency

Player management improved: Q3 2022 figures show a bankruptcy rate of 215.95%, which represented a 72.10% decrease compared to Q3 2021.  

Accounts

Active gaming accounts in Spain Q4 2022 remained effectively stable at 999,322, whose marginal decrease of 0.07% from Q3 2022 represented a substantive 9.18% increase compared to Q4 2021.

Offering Breakdowns

The 2022 Q3 vertical offerings from Spain’s 78 licensed operators broke down into betting (45); bingo (3); casino (54); contests (2); poker (9).

New Entry

As for drivers of growth in this quarter, impending developments include major UK Betting Group Stanleybet Group announced plans for entry into Spain through Andalusia in 2023 Q1; while Belgium-based Starcasino is preparing to launch sports betting and online casino in Spain utilizing a leading in-house technology platform.

Outlook

As one of the EU’s most visible maturing markets, Spain is showing promising growth. Look for more market entry across 2023.