Sports and slots drive 26% Spanish revenue growth

Revenues from Spain’s online gaming market were up a healthy 26% for the full-year 2015, driven by continued growth in sports betting and the launch of slots games back in the summer.

The Direcci?n General de Ordenaci?n del Juego reported gross gaming revenue grew to ?319.6m for the 12 months ended 31 December 2015, up from the ?254.5m recorded in the same period last year.

Turnover for the year amounted to ?8.6bn, a 28% increase on the ?6.7bn recorded in 2014 and online gaming consultant Eduardo Morales Hermo said current trends pointed to the market turning over more than ?10bn during 2016.

Sports betting was the largest vertical across the year, attracting revenues of ?179m, a 40% increase on 2014.

But it was casino that reported the highest growth, with revenues up 80% to ?67.5m after a raft of casino operators launched slots into the market for the first time during Q2 and Q3.

Poker remained the third largest vertical during the year, despite a 10% contraction in GGR to ?59.8m, while bingo recorded a 3% dip to just ?7.8m.

The regulator also revealed the market’s performance in the fourth quarter, with GGR up 40% year-on-year to ?94.7m.

Sportsbook generated revenues of ?53.5m, casino ?22.6m, poker ?14.5m while bingo attracted ?2.1m.

The DGOJ revealed details on marketing spend, with operators said to have invested ?23.2m on “advertising, sponsorship and promotion” in the fourth quarter, up 15% on the previous year.