Spanish Online Gambling Declines 10% To €55m In Q2 2013

Spanish online gambling was launched in mid-2012, but concerns exist that the market may be seeing the start of a plateau after recording declining revenues in both quarters of this year.
In Q1 Spanish online gambling generated €60.4 million in revenue, €1 million less than that recorded in Q4 2012, and now the latest Q2 results show gross gaming revenues at €55.4 million ($73.6 million), down 10% compared to the previous quarter.
According to the latest quarterly figures, online sports betting contributed €26.8 million in revenue, accounting for 48.4% of the total market; followed by online poker at €16.4 million (29.6% market share); casino gaming at €8.5 million (15% market share); and online bingo at €1.8 million (3.2% market share).
Breaking the Q2 figures down further, online sports betting saw its revenues shrink by 13%; online poker was down by 12%; and online casinos down by 4%.
Although an ailing Spanish economy helps account for some of the decline in the country’s gross gaming revenue, it is also possible that its online gaming market may already be starting to stagnate. In addition, a lack of competitiveness in the Spanish online poker market may also help explain why online poker revenues have not grown.
PokerStars.es continues to lead the other poker sites in Spain, with a seven-day average of 1,580 players, followed a way behind by 888’s Spanish site with a seven-day average of 395 players.
On a more positive note, in the future Spain’s online poker market could receive a solid boost if the country eventually does decide to pool its player pool with those of France and Italy. Furthermore, the market can expect greater revenues when online slots and exchange betting in Spain are licensed.