Spain's Market Matures, With a New Test Coming Up

The so far steady Spanish market has reported stable gains for Q1 2020.

Positive Across the Board

Gaming verticals across the board have reported strong year-on-year improvements as well, according
to Spain’s Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ).

Revenues

The full figures reveal operator revenue of just under €218m in the three months ending March 31, representing a 12.5% year-on-year rise and a 17.6% recovery from rare negative growth in 2019's final quarter.

Vertical Leaders

Spain's leading vertical was once again sports betting, with €110.6m revenue for Q1, representing an 8.6% year-on-year rise and almost 25% clear of the unsightly Q4 2019.

Interesting Contrasts

Emerging in-play betting revenue increased 4% to €61.3m, even while in-play turnover fell 18.5% year-on-year.

Pre-match wagering followed suite, with revenue rising 13.1% to €46.3m while turnover fell off to 10%.

Casino Breakdown

Casino revenue rose 8.3% year-on-year to €77.6m: the strongest contributions came from slot growth (€43.2m total, up 15.7%); live roulette ( €18.4m total, up 35.6%); and traditional roulette (€10.7m total, up 16.7%).

Losing Verticals

The only major shortfalls turned in online were from blackjack revenue, which dropped 17.1% to €5.3m, and baccarat, down 80% to just €614k.

Online Poker Contributions

The always important online poker revenue maintained robust growth in Spain with a 13.1% year-on-year jump to €24.2m--bolstered by 16% tournament improvement to €16.1m with cash games rising 8% to €8.1m. More growth was visible in tournament fees (+30.7%) and cash games stakes (+22.8%).

In Spain's smaller verticals, bingo was up 14.7% to €3.7m while the emerging “contests” segment doubled to €1.9m year-on-year.

The Marketing Dimension

Marketing is a new spend worth watching, due to the need to manage aggressive advertising through monitoring and effective legislation.

Investment

The Spanish market figures revealed a total of €118.2m spent on on marketing during Q1, representing a jump from 28.3% from the same period last year.

The Next Marketing Intervention

At the same time, advertising spend rose nearly a quarter to €59.9m; bonus offers climbed 46% to €42.4m; affiliate marketing rose ever so slightly 1% to €10.3m; while sponsorship spending rose 23% to €6m.

Outlook

The key market impact facing Spain now is impending online promotional restrictions. Time will tell if the Spain's admirable growth continuity will be affected.