Spanish gambling marketing spend rises 12% in 2019
New DGOJ data demonstrates 11.7% uptick in marketing costs driven by 44% increase in sponsorship spend
Spain’s online gross gambling revenue (GGR) increased by 7.04% year-on-year in 2019, according to the latest data from Spanish regulator DGOJ.
Revenue reached €748.24m (£675.5m) for the year, with 50% of GGR made up by sports betting, which generated €378.2m (£341.4m) during 2019 after a 4% increase.
Spain’s online casino revenue also increased during 2019, rising 15% annually to €273.92m (£247.2m). However online bingo GGR decreased by 5.6% to €12.7m (£11.4m) while online poker GGR also fell by just under 1% to €81.3m (£73.3m).
Online poker tournaments proved to be the biggest growth point for the vertical during 2019, with tournament GGR rising 166% to €2.7m (£2.4m).
This increase is due in part to the introduction of shared poker liquidity networks across Spain, France and Portugal.
Elsewhere, deposits and withdrawals made via Spanish-licensed operators increased by 16% and 20% respectively compared to those received in 2018.
Spanish marketing spend in 2019 rose by just under 11.7% to €372m (£335.7m), buoyed by a 44% increase in sponsorship spend totalling €20.6m (£18.5m). Affiliate marketing spend also jumped by 23% to €39.3m (£35.4m).
Spain’s government recently put pen to paper on a blanket sponsorship ban for gambling operators in sport to reduce gambling-related harm among bettors. However, a number of operators have continued to sign sponsorship deals with Spanish football clubs.