Spanish gross online gaming revenue came to €815m in 2021, down 4.2% from 2020, but stakes grew by more than 25%, suggesting the decline may be more linked to trading than the country’s marketing rules.
According to figures from regulator the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), this came despite the fact that players deposited €2.77bn during the year, which was 216% more than in 2020, while turnover rose by 25.8% to €27.17bn.
For the first time, casino was the largest driver of online GGR, bringing in €407.1m in 2021, up 16.0%. Online casino revenue has grown year-on-year in every year in which DGOJ has recorded data.
Breaking this online casino revenue down further, slots brought in €241.4m, up 23.0%, while live roulette revenue grew 18.6% to €120.6m. Blackjack revenue was €23.2m, down 5.7%, while for RNG roulette this figure dipped by 27.2% to €22.0m.
Revenue from betting, which was previously the leading vertical, was down 16.2% to €305.9m, the lowest figure since 2016.
Of this total, €192.2m came from €5.81bn worth of in-play sports bets, while €114.9m in revenue came from live sports betting as players staked €4.65bn. Horse racing, meanwhile, contributed negative revenue on bets worth €355.1m.
Poker revenue came to €85.4m, which was 22.7% less than in 2020. This included €58.3m from cash games and €27.1m from tournaments.
Total stakes from each vertical, however, increased. Casino stakes were up 50.0% to €13.60bn, betting stakes rose to €11.07bn while poker stakes increased by 8.8% to €2.40bn.
In addition, 2021 was the first full year since a number of strict new marketing restrictions came into effect in Spain. All betting sponsorship deals with Spanish clubs were banned for the start of the 2021-22 football season, while advertising on TV and radio was restricted to the hours of 1am to 5am, a measure that extends to videos on YouTube.
Amid these new measures, marketing spend for Spanish operators dipped by 0.9% year-on-year.
Advertisements – both in media and in person – remained the main form of marketing, as spend ticked up slightly to €205.0m. Affiliate spending, meanwhile, grew by 6.7% to €41.1m. Bonus spending, on the other hand, dipped by 1.1% to €195.0m.
Given the new rules, sponsorship spend dropped by 29.3% to €19.0m.
