Spanish Gambling Gross Revenue Again Hit by Low Betting Margins
The Spanish wagering market was again impacted by low sports betting margins in the second quarter. Operators took home less than 2.5% of wagering revenue for the fourth consecutive quarter.
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Spanish gambling gross revenue again hit by low betting margins
The nation’s total gambling revenue reached €203.9 million. Despite a total wagering increase of 8.3% to €7.12 billion, this represented a 5.6% year-over-year decrease.
Sports betting revenue remained low at €60.9 million, down 33.8% year-over-year and 6.7% from the first quarter.
The reason for the low sports betting revenue was again low margins. Wagering turnover (€2.81 billion) increased by 5.0% year-over-year. This indicates that sports betting operators had a margin of just 2.2%, the fourth consecutive quarter below 2.5%.
Margins were low across all types of betting, with pre-match sports betting at 2.6%, in-play sports betting at 1.8%, and horse racing at 4.8%.
On the other hand, the casino industry continued to expand, with revenue of €117.2 million in the second quarter, up 17.3% year-over-year. This was driven by €3.74 billion in wagering turnover. Slot machines accounted for €71.4 million in revenue, up 23.0%, while live roulette revenue increased by 15.4% to €34.1 million. Random number generator roulette revenue fell by 5.9% to €6.2 million, while blackjack revenue fell by 3.9% to €5.4 million.
In addition, bingo revenue grew by 2.7% to €3.4 million, while poker revenue increased by 10.8% to €22.5 million.
## Advertising Costs
The gaming industry is still experiencing the consequences of the advertising restrictions that were implemented last year. All gaming sponsorships with Spanish soccer teams were eliminated at the start of the 2021-2022 season. Furthermore, television and radio commercials were limited to the hours between 1 am and 5 am. This limitation was also applied to YouTube videos.
Overall, marketing expenditures decreased by 30.3% to €89.6 million compared to the second quarter of 2021.
The prohibition on most forms of sponsorship resulted in a significant decrease in spending in this area, down 95.1% to €375,479. Traditional advertising spending was also halved, falling to €31.9 million.
Affiliate marketing spending also suffered a decline, dropping 21.4% to €7.9 million.
The only marketing channel that exhibited growth was free wagers, which increased by 0.6% to €49.5 million.
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