Spain Q1 GGR down 15% YoY as low betting margins continue to hinder market

Gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the Spanish market fell by 14.8% year-on-year (YoY) in Q1 2022, with a continued downturn in sports betting driving the lower revenue return.

The data provided by Spain’s regulator, the Director General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ), showed that GGR revenue for the first three months of 2022 amounted to €204.4m (£175.6m).

On a positive note, this was a 16.3% quarter-on-quarter increase on the €175.9m posted in Q4 2021.

Breaking down GGR by vertical, sports betting revenue continued to be disappointing for the Iberian nation at €65.2m, which was a 40.9% fall YoY. However, this was an increase of 49.1% from the €43.7m posted in Q4 2021.

Casino accounted for €110.97m of total GGR, rising 11.5% YoY, and was also a slight increase on the €107.5m posted in Q4 2021.

Poker was the third largest vertical, bringing in €24.5m in revenue, down 2% YoY, but this was a rise of 19% increase compared to Q4 2021.

Bingo revenue decreased 12.2% to €3.6m from the €4.1m posted in Q4 2021, but was only 0.17% down from the figure in the same period in 2021.

The monthly average of active player accounts was 1.03 million, which shows a 5.81% increase from Q4 2021 but a drop of 8.9% YoY.

Furthermore, new player registrations saw a massive drop in Q1 2022, with 186,234 people signing up to play in Spain, which is a 12.8% quarter-on-quarter drop and a huge 55.9% fall YoY.

The data presented by the DGOJ also detailed the marketing expenditure in the first three months of the year.

Overall marketing expenditure dropped 27.7% YoY to €107.9m. When breaking this down, it can be seen that the restrictions placed on sponsorship was the main reason for this drop. As a result, sponsorship spending plummeted from €9.4m to €632,784 in Q1 2022.

Affiliate marketing was the only beneficiary of the restrictions as marketing spend rocketed 84% to €22.7m.

In Q1 2022, there continued to be 78 licensed operators in Spain.