Third of Spanish gamblers use unregulated sites
eGR Insights study finds 41% of Spanish poker players prefer to use dot.com sites over dot.es
A substantial portion of online gambling revenues in Spain are being lost to offshore operators as more than a third of players opt to use unregulated dot.com sites, a study by eGR Insights has found.
The Online Gaming Survey (Spain), based on 1,000 online interviews undertaken in early 2014, revealed that poker players are the most likely to play on unregulated sites with 41% of respondents saying they do so.
Sports betting is the next most likely gambling vertical to see unregulated play with 37% of customers saying they play on non-dot.es sportsbook sites, closely followed by online casino with 36% of dot.com play.
The vertical with the least unregulated activity is online bingo with 34% of players using dot.com sites.
The findings demonstrate that a substantial portion of egaming revenues remain in the pockets of unlicensed operators rather than those approved by Spanish regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ).
“This is seen by some as a key reason why only a handful of operators are generating significant profits from the market, and DGOJ figures revealed consecutive quarters of GGR decline with a 7% and 11% fall in Q2 and Q3 of 2013 respectively,” said eGR’s director of business information Ben Robinson.
Meanwhile critics have argued that a delay in regulating online slots has been a factor in casino’s poor performance, with the vertical currently accounting for just 14.2% of overall GGR.
According the latest figures published the DGOJ, sports betting accounts for a 48.9% share of total GGR, followed by poker with 29.1% and bingo with 3.6%.
The study by eGR Insights looks at the overall shape of the Spanish online gambling sector, investigates customer activity, potential increase in spend, operator comparisons and drivers of satisfaction across the main verticals: sports betting, casino, poker and bingo.
The audience was defined as those who have ever played one or a number of the following online gaming categories for money: online poker, online casino, online bingo and online sports betting.
For more information or to order a copy of the survey, please contact Ben Robinson at b.robinson@egrmagazine.com.