Sports betting lifts Spain’s GGR

Gross gaming revenue in Spain increased quarter-on-quarter by just 2.33% in the three months through to the end of June, with the inevitable spike in sports betting in relation to the Fifa World Cup seemingly at the expense of poker.

The country’s gambling regulator, the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), reported that GGR for the three months was €167.2m (£151.3m/$195.1m) – a year-on-year increase of 40.15% and a marginal increase on the first three months of 2018.

Of the total, €87.6m was placed in bets (52.4%), €56.52m was accredited to casino revenue (33.8%), poker raised €19.45m (11.63%), €3.28m was generated by bingo (1.96%) and €340,000 was generated by competitions.

Sports betting increased by 32.75% in comparison with the previous quarter, contributing towards a 7.07% quarter-on-quarter rise for the vertical and a 46.68% year-on-year increase.

Online poker, however, decreased by 9.4% quarter-on-quarter following a significant rise in the first three months of the year following a shared liquidity pact between Spain and France. Portugal joined the pact in May.

As reported yesterday (Tuesday) by iGamingBusiness.com, the DGOJ’s counterpart in Portugal, the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ), reported a quarter-on-quarter increase in poker’s share of total GGR of 18.6% to 20.4%, with cash games and tournament poker representing 15.3% and 5.1%, respectively.

However, in Spain there is still clear evidence of significant growth, which will only be boosted further by the decision earlier this summer by the country’s regulators to slash tax rates for online gambling operators, with GGR being cut by 25% to 20%.

Marketing expenditure in the second quarter rocketed by 55.22% year-on-year to €81.3m, with the number of monthly active users rising by 31.74% to nearly 860,000.