Spanish market bounces back in Q4

The regulated Spanish online gaming market ended a difficult 2013 on a positive note with a 15.6% sequential increase in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Q4.

However, year-on-year comparison showed The latest figures from the Spanish regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) followed two consecutive quarters of decline with a 7% and 11% fall in Q2 and Q3 respectively. despite an 8.3% increase in total stakes.

GGR in the final quarter of the year stood at €59.9m as total amounts staked increased 13.9% to €1.5bn quarter-on-quarter while the total number of registered players rose by 9.4%.

The latest figures from the Spanish regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) followed two consecutive quarters of decline with a 7% and 11% fall in Q2 and Q3 respectively.

Sports betting continued to dominate the market with a 48.9% share of total GGR, followed by poker with 29.1% and bingo with 3.6%.

Casino accounted for only 14.2% but, according to Spanish gaming consultant Eduardo Morales Hermo, the long-awaited implementation of online slots could boost the vertical’s GGR by as much as 75% to 80% and reduce the attractiveness of the unlicensed market.

“The online gaming market in Spain is conditioned by the lack of quality and competitiveness of the offer,” he said.

“You can establish that there is an illegal market or “grey” which continues to absorb a significant proportion of the demand for online gaming if we consider other markets and situations with some equivalence,” Hermo added.

Draft online slots legislation was recently released by the Spanish government which is set to feature a range of strict player protection measures including set time and cash limits.

The legislation has since come under criticism from the Spanish Gaming Business Council which claimed land-based operators would suffer “enormous damage” as a result of the “extremely lax” regulation.