Spanish revenues grow by a quarter in 2018

Spanish gross gaming revenues (GGR) increased 25% year-on-year during 2018, according to the Spanish regulator’s latest report on the market.

Online GGR during the 12-month period topped €699m, surpassing the €557m in revenues generated during 2017.

Online casino reported the biggest revenue jump during 2018, rising by 39% y-o-y, thanks in part to the growth of slots gaming, which rose to 55% of the online casino market, a rise of 51% y-o-y.

Bingo gross gaming revenues rose to €13.4m during 2018, a rise of 17% year-on-year.

Sports betting revenues rose 18% y-o-y, buoyed in part by a 24.7% rise in pre-match betting and a 15% rise in in-play betting, which contributed 55.92% of total sports betting revenues.

Poker revenues rose 37% with tournament revenues rising 44% when compared to 2017.

Sports betting made up the lion’s share of these revenues accounting for 52.2% or €365.1m, followed by online casino with 34% or €237.9m of revenues during 2018.  Online poker was the other big market force in Spain, generating €81.8m in revenues or 11.7% of the total annual figure.

Spend on marketing rose 48% y-o-y, rising to €328m from a previous 2017 high of €221m. Advertising spend continued its domination of marketing revenue figures, contributing 51% of revenues or €168.1m during 2018, a rise of 62.5% on 2017 spending figures.

Although the overall share of marketing revenues devoted to sponsorships fell slightly, sponsorship revenues rose 42% during the year to €13.4m.

The number of active game accounts rose 28% YoY to 833,525 in 2018, while the number of new accounts grew 21% YoY to 256,008 during the same period.