Part 3: Spain – a lull in activity
Part 3
Spain — a lull in activity
We said in last summer’s Market Monitor that the €11.4m and we saw something of a bounceback in
test of the maturity of the Spanish online market March when GGR came in at just over €12m.
would be to see how online casino operations
fared in the first few years of operation after
online slots were licensed in late 2015. Early
indications were promising. From a standing start
Table 2: Spanish online casino monthly GGR
Year
GGR (€m)
in late 2015, by the last quarter of 2016 slots were Apr-16 9.38
worth €16.8m in gross gaming revenues (GGR), or May-16 9.82
just over 42% of total casino GGR. Jun-16 8.9
Jul-16 9.61
Aug-16 9.07
at €13.7m, a near 20% fall on the previous quarter. Sep-16 9.76
Although it still represented a 44% year-on-year Oct-16 10.95
rise, it suggests at least a pause in progress. Nov-16 11.3
Dec-16 13.7
Jan-17 10.65
— despite the rise of slots — still accounts for an Feb-17 9.85
equal slice of total online casino revenues at 42%, Mar-17 12.02
However, by the first quarter of this year, the
product’s rise appeared to have hit a barrier. Total
slots GGR for the three months to March came in
Yet, a deeper look into the number provides
a more nuanced picture. A large driver of online
casino in Spain is to be found with roulette which
with conventional roulette worth €6m in GGR in
the first quarter and live roulette worth €7.6m in
GGR.
The combined €13.7m represents a rise of 7%
It wasn’t just the casino market which suffered
a setback in February; sports betting GGR also
on the previous quarter’s total of €12.8m and a tumbled in that month, down to €18.3m from
19% year-on-year rise. €32.3m in January before regaining some ground
Indeed, when the performance of the casino
in March to hit €21m.
segment as a whole is broken down by the This is just below the six-month average for
Spanish regulator, the Dirección General de October to March of €23.6m and is above the
Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), the picture looks average figure for the previous six months of
more positive. €18.3m. Of the total for the quarter of €69.2m,
On a month-by-month basis, we can see that
the damage in the first quarter was caused by a
more than 63%, or €43, 7m came from in-play
betting and the remaining €25.5m was pre-match.
particularly poor February when total casino GGR
fell back to €9.85m.
This compares with a six-month average GGR
figure for the months from October to March of
iGaming Business Market Monitor • June 2017
Still growing after all these years
All told, total revenues for the quarter came in at
€122.7m, or 2.4% below the figure for the fourth
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