One million online gamblers in Spain

Fourth quarter 2012 stats from the Spanish online gambling regulator La Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego show that GGR reached Euro 61.4 million in the sector, an encouraging rise of just over 40 percent over the third quarter.

La Liga football action was attributed as the main driver of the increase, which pushed online wagering handle to Euro 1.36 billion, or a 24 percent rise over the previous quarter, with the number of registered players at Spanish-licensed websites passing the landmark one million for the first time.

The bad news is that although almost 72,500 new sign-ups are being recorded every month, this is a more than 25 percent decline from the 100,000 a month recorded in the period following the legalisation of online gambling in mid-2012.

The DGOJ reports that sports betting constituted 48.4 percent of all online wagering, with GGR soaring 66 percent to Euro 30 million compared to the third quarter. Operator betting handles rose to Euro 483 million, with a hold rate of 6.2 percent.

Online casino operators still waiting for the regulator to unleash online slot action in the Spanish market contributed 12.4 percent of all online revenues, whilst online poker revenues rose 17 percent to Euro 17.4 million in the quarter.

Online bingo delivered 3.6 percent of the total GGR for the quarter.