Spanish egaming market sees strong Q4 growth
GGR reached 61.4m in the last three months of 2012, with sports betting accounting for almost half of that figure.
The Spanish online gaming market saw quarter-on-quarter gross gaming revenue (GGR) growth of 41% in Q4 of 2012, with the number of registered players surpassing one million for the first time since the egaming licences were issued last June.
According to figures released by Spanish regulatory authority La Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) and seen by eGaming Review, gross gaming revenue reached 61.4m in the last three months of 2012, while total turnover for the period increased by 24% on Q3 to 1.4bn.
Sports betting was by far the most popular vertical in the fourth quarter, attracting 48.4% of overall dot.es GGR, while cash poker games made up 15.6% of GGR and tournament poker 8.8%. Online bingo games, meanwhile, were responsible for 3.6% of GGR.
Casino games including blackjack and roulette held a share of 12.4% of gross revenues. Slots are yet to be factored into casino numbers “ with the product yet to be regulated in Spain, however the DGOJ has entered into discussions with licensed operators, consumer groups and the Spanish government on the possibility of launching slots and/or exchange betting later this year.
The number of online players registered for the Identity Verification System of DGOJ also saw a steady increase from the start of the regulated market, with growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 of 27.4% to 1,010,086 registered players in December.
Spain enacted its egaming regulations in June last year, with 53 operators – both local and foreign –securing licences to operate sports betting, poker, casino and/or bingo in the dot.es market.
Since then the regulator has been criticised for its handling of the online poker licensing process, which has seen PokerStars attain a reported 70% market share, leaving almost all other operators fighting over minimal player numbers.