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Spanish gambling revenue up 13.8% in 2020

| By Robert Fletcher
Spain’s national gambling regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) has reported a 13.8% year-on-year increase in online gross gambling revenue (GGR) in 2020, despite a dip in sports betting revenue.
Spain

GGR for the year amounted to €850.7m (£726.3m/$998.0m), up from €748.2m in the previous year.

Sports wagering remained the primary source of GGR for operators, despite a 7.1% year-on-year decline to €365.1m.

Casino GGR increased 33.7% to €350.8m, while poker GGR was also up 35.8% to €110.3m. Bingo GGR climbed 40.8% to €16.5m, while contests revenue rocketed by 185.7% to €8.0m.

Player spending on online gambling amounted to €21.60bn, up by 15.0% from €18.78bn in the previous year. The number of active accounts also climbed by 16.0% to 2.9m million, while there were 1.5 million active players, up 8.8% year-on-year.

The DGOJ also revealed that marketing spend from operators increased 24.2% to €462.1m in 2020. Advertising expenses reached €199.7m, while total spending on promotions was €197.3m, affiliate costs €38.5m and sponsorship €26.6m

The DGOJ also published figures for the fouth quarter, during which GGR amounted to €231.2m, which was also 20.0% higher than in the third quarter of 2020.

Sports betting was the primary source of revenue for operators, with GGR amounting to €103.5m, representing 44.8% of total GGR in the quarter.

Casino followed in second with €97.8m in GGR, or 42.3% of overall revenue in Q4, while poker GGR amounted to €24.9m. Bingo GGR reached €3.9m and the remaining €1.1m in revenue came from contests.

Stakes, meanwhile, came to €6.65bn with casino stakes highest at €3.43bn, followed by sports betting with €2.50bn.

Looking at deposits during the quarter, consumers spent a total of €1.07bn with gambling operators, an increase of 31.8% on the previous year.

Withdrawals were also up, with the €840.7m taken out by players being 32.6% higher than in Q4 of 2019.

In terms of marketing spend, operators in Spain spent €148.8m during Q4, an increase of 24.5% on the previous year.

Breaking this down, €71.0m was attributed to advertising spend, €56.3m for promotions, €12.2m on affiliation expenses and €9.2m in relation to spend on sponsorship.

The monthly average of active game accounts was also up 8.1% year-on-year to 1,051,139, while the monthly average of the new game accounts increased by 18.9% to 391,510.

By the end of the quarter, there were a total of 80 licensed operators active in the country, including 51 offering casino, 46 betting, nine poker, three bingo and two contests.

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