Spain's Market Matures, With a New Test Coming Up
Published July 30, 2020 by Lee R
The Spanish market's figures are diverse, promising, and hopefully sustainable.
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.
