Spanish and Swedish markets continue to grow

This week has seen 2015 numbers released by the Spanish and Swedish regulators, with both markets still showing growth.

In Spain, the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) reported that overall GGR (gross gaming revenue) was up an impressive 28 percent to Euro 319.6 million on wagers totalling over Euro 8 billion, with sports betting remaining the most popular wagering generator.

The sports betting vertical delivered a 40 percent year-on-year increase in revenue over 2015 to reach Euro 179 million, whilst the other star of the annual show proved to be online casino, where the addition of slots action earlier in the year pushed revenues up 80 percent to Euro 67.5 million.

Less salubrious performances were recorded by online poker (down at Euro 59.8 million) and bingo (a decline to Euro 7.8 million).

In terms of revenue contribution in 2015, sports betting was the biggest at 56 percent of all online GGR, followed by online casino at 24 percent, with internet poker now down to around 15 percent.

The year ended with a good performance from the industry in Q4-2015, with online GGR up 40 percent to Euro 94.7 million, made up of sports betting Euro 53.5 million; casino Euro 22.6 million, poker Euro 14.5 million and bingo Euro 2.1 million.

In the Nordic North, Sweden’s Lotteriinspektionen boasted that the national market had again outperformed industry norms in 2015, claiming that the overall gambling market generated wagering of SEK 45.6 billion – a 1.5 percent year-on-year growth that created revenues of SEK 16.7 billion.

Online GGR for the year came in at SEK 8 billion, a y-o-y increase of around 7 percent, but the regulator estimates that most of that – SEK 4.4 billion – was for the pockets of unlicensed and illegal offshore operators.

Nevertheless, the state-owned monopoly Svenska Spel recorded GGR up 8 percent y-o-y at SEK 3.6 billion, with the regulator claiming that the increase outperformed that of foreign competitors by a good 2 percent.

Unlicensed operators spent generously on advertising to Swedish online punters, contributing over 70 percent of the SEK 3.3 billion invested in Swedish gambling advertising throughout the year, which declined slightly.

The regulator claims that over 2015 the average Swedish punter lost around SEK 2,133 to licensed and regulated Swedish gambling activity, whilst those who used illegal offshore sites lost far less per head at SEK 447…perhaps because of better products and offers?

The regulator notes that at some future point the market could become more competitive with the restrictions on licensing for foreign companies lifted in response to pressure from the European Commission (see previous reports).

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