Slots for Spain

In an effort to revive Spain’s overtaxed and flagging online gambling industry, regulator the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling has announced that an unspecified number of new casino gaming licenses (to include slots) are to be offered to operators interested in expanding and the potential of the market.

The licenses will be available for both existing licensees and operators who have not yet entered the market, the regulator said in a series of advisory notices.

Pokerstars currently controls approximately 70 percent of the Spanish market, and it is hoped that the introduction of casino games licensing will widen the competition.

Industry observers have predicted that between 10 and 12 operators will make application for the new licenses, mostly interested in offering online slot action.

Recent studies of the market have estimated that as much as 43 percent of Spanish online punters frequent sites not regulated by the DGOJ, with almost a third of these saying that they do not use Spanish regulated websites at all.

Spanish GGR has been declining, with Q2-2014 revenues down by 6 percent year-on-year, and estimated player counts falling by 5 percent.