Spanish online market contracts in Q2
Both amounts wagered and GGR fell in the three months to 30 June compared to Q1 figures
The online gaming industry in Spain suffered a quarter-on-quarter decline during Q2 2013 as the amounts wagered fell by 7% to 1.3bn, according to figures released by the country’s regulator.
In addition, gross gaming revenue (GGR) also suffered a dip across the three months to 30 June as it fell 10% from 61.6m to 55.4m, which equated to a H1 total of 117m.
With the football season coming to an end during the quarter, sports betting GGR fell 13% to 26.8m from 30.7m, although it still made up 48.4% of the overall market compared to 50% in Q1.
Poker also suffered a fall with both cash and tournament games totalling 16.4m GGR, down on the 17.9m recorded from January to March, and a 29.6% overall share.
The performance of casino games held up well in comparison as it lost 4% of GGR at a total of 8.5m and a market share of 15%, while bingo was the only vertical to grow, up to 1.8m from 1.7m.
Across the 12 months from July 2012 to June 2013, 5.4bn was wagered on dot.es sites in Spain with a GGR of 234.4m.
With regulation of the Spanish market only becoming effective from June 2012, there were no corresponding figures available for 2012 and regulator La Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) insisted a direct comparison of Q1 and Q2 figures was difficult due to the differences in climate.
The DGOJ has indicated that the introduction of slots and exchange betting regulation is expected in 2014 with the former expecting to have a big impact on the market and casino revenues are predicted to double.