Online Gambling in Spain: Slight decline in Q2 but growth continues

Spain has 78 companies licensed to offer online gambling services. In the second quarter of this year, the market experienced sustained growth, reaching a record turnover of €346.3 million. This represents an increase of 10.8% compared to last year, despite a slight decline compared to the first quarter. These figures, published by the Spanish Gambling Authority (DGOJ), show that the sector continues to thrive, driven by players’ enthusiasm for online casinos and sports betting.

Online Casinos: Undisputed Kings of the Market

Online casinos have undoubtedly done well in the second quarter. With €171.7 million in revenue, they represent almost half of the sector’s total turnover. This performance is all the more remarkable as it marks an increase of 14.6% compared to the previous year and 2.3% compared to the previous quarter. Slot machines, in particular, experienced dazzling growth (+19.5%), as did live roulette (+10%).

While online casinos enjoyed dazzling success, other segments of the gambling market posted more mixed results. Online poker, which brought in €25.6 million, declined slightly, recording a drop of 0.8% compared to last year, and even 10.2% compared to the first quarter of this year. Bingo, meanwhile, totaled €3.6 million. A modest growth (+1.9%) compared to 2023, but well below its first quarter performance with a drop in revenue of 13.9%.

Half-hearted sports betting

Sports betting remains important for the Spanish, despite everything the sector has had a mixed year. While the second quarter recorded a growth of 9.1% compared to last year, reaching 145.5 million euros, this performance masks a decrease of 3.2% compared to the first quarter and especially significant disparities between the different types of bets.

Indeed, pre-match football bets have suffered a decrease of 10.3%, while live bets have increased by 5.8%. For their part, horse racing has suffered particularly, with a 12.3% drop in its revenues. While other types of sports betting have seen their popularity increase with an increase of 36.6%.

Players are depositing more money

The number of active players also continues to grow. In the second quarter of 2024, players collectively deposited €1.09 billion into their accounts, which is 15.9% more than last year and 5.6% more than in the first quarter. On the other hand, a lot of money was withdrawn: a total of €740 million.

In total, there were 1.4 million active player accounts, and the number of new accounts increased by almost 50% to 446,586.

Marketing spend explodes

If you think casinos are pocketing their profits, think again. Marketing spend has skyrocketed, up 22.5% from last year, to a whopping €120.2 million. This is partly due to the fact that Spanish courts overturned some of the strict advertising laws introduced in 2020 in April this year, allowing companies to advertise again.

The majority of this marketing spend went to promotions (€62.3 million) and advertising (€44 million). Affiliates (€12.8 million) and sponsorships (€1.2 million) also received their share.