Spain’s gambling market sees steady growth in Q3 financial report

Spain’s gambling regulator, the Directorate-General for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ, for its Spanish acronym), has released its financial performance report for the third quarter of 2024, showcasing a steady increase in gross gaming revenue (GGR) and related metrics.

The quarter’s GGR reached €348.1m, reflecting a slight 0.49% increase compared to the previous quarter and a robust 14.4% rise year over year, underscoring the sector’s sustained growth.

Player activity metrics demonstrated significant growth. Deposits rose by 4.6% quarter over quarter and 23.9% year over year. Withdrawals increased 7.4% quarter over quarter and 30.3% year over year.

Marketing expenditure for the quarter climbed to €131.7m, representing a 9.7% increase quarter over quarter and a 40.9% surge year over year. These marketing expenses included €13.2m for affiliations, €1.3m for sponsorships, €66.8m for promotions, and €50.4m for advertising.

Sponsorships saw the most significant year-over-year growth at 44.5%, followed by advertising at 51.3%.

The improvements follow the intervention of Spain’s Supreme Court this past April. It partially ruled in favor of an appeal filed by the Spanish Digital Gaming Association against regulations that prohibited some forms of advertising.

Among the annulled provisions was a ban on using celebrities in advertising, which had faced significant criticism from the gaming industry. The appeal, initially rejected by the Spanish Constitutional Court in November 2023, resulted in a partial victory for Spain’s gaming industry.

Another key reversal was the annulment of Article 13, which prohibited advertising targeted at new customers. With this restriction lifted, Spanish operators could market their services to players who have held an account for less than 30 days.

Additionally, operators are allowed to advertise in locations where lottery tickets are sold and accessible to the general public.

GGR breakdown by segment

The GGR for the third quarter was distributed across five primary segments, almost all showing increases.

Casino led with €188m (54% of the GGR total), Betting contributed €135.9m (39.1%), Poker followed with €20.5m (5.9%) and Bingo accounted for €3.7m (1.1%).

The fifth category, Contests, recorded no revenue, leading to no contribution to the total.

The casino sector experienced the largest quarter-over-quarter growth at 9.5% and an annual increase of 17.3%. Within the casino category, slots showed remarkable growth, increasing by 25.8% year over year and 13.7% quarter over quarter.

Blackjack also performed strongly, with a 49.4% year-over-year increase. Conversely, the poker segment faced challenges, recording a 19.7% quarter-over-quarter drop and a 23.5% decline year over year, driven primarily by a sharp fall in tournament poker activity.

The betting segment experienced overall mixed results. It posted a 19.8% year-over-year growth but a 6.57% decline compared to the previous quarter.

Within this segment, pre-match betting fell by 24.3%, while in-play betting rose by 8.7%. Other forms of betting grew by 20.9%, while horse betting decreased by 22%.

Bingo saw moderate increases of 1.7% quarter over quarter and 0.7% year over year.

Active and New Player Accounts

The report highlighted increases in both active and new player accounts. The average number of monthly active accounts rose to 1,443,615, marking a 3% quarter-over-quarter and a 33.3% year-over-year increase.

Similarly, new game accounts averaged 153,181 monthly, showing a 1.7% quarter-over-quarter growth and a notable 42.4% year-over-year increase.

Spain’s gambling market continues to expand, as evidenced by consistent growth in GGR and player engagement. With 77 licensed operators – among them 51 iGaming and 42 sports betting operators – currently active, the industry’s trajectory remains positive.

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