According to the latest figures, Spain’s gaming industry’s Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) for 2023 was €7.4 billion. The online sector in Spain has also shown remarkable growth, with revenues reaching €346.3 million in Q2 2024, marking a 10.8% increase from the previous year. Let’s take a closer look at how the Spanish market has performed in 2024.
The Spanish gambling landscape has undergone significant changes in the past year, with notable growth and regulatory developments. Here’s an overview of the key changes:
Spain’s healthy market growth, some demographics
- Active gamblers increased by 2.7% to over 1.6 million
- Vast gender gap – 83.38% of active players are men, while 16.62% are women
- 85.79% of active players are between 18 and 45 years old
According to the latest report from the Spanish regulator, the , recent figures are promising:
- Casino led with 50.5% of total GGR, accumulating €624.8 million in revenue
- Betting accounted for 39.8% of GGR with €491.8 million
- The betting sector grew by 36.6%, with in-play sports bets increasing by 48.7%
- Casino sector grew by 25.3%, largely attributed to slots
- Poker experienced a 16.9% year-on-year rise
Market spurred on by regulatory changes
The Supreme Court partially annulled restrictions from Royal Decree 958/2020, affecting advertising in digital environments. Of the advertising restrictions that were overturned because deemed either disproportionate or lacking legal basis, the main ones included:
- Ban on targeting new customers (those with accounts less than 30 days old)
- Prohibition of celebrity appearances in gambling ads
- Restrictions on advertising on video-sharing platforms like YouTube
- Limitations on social media advertising to users over 18
- Some restrictions remained, such as the ban on sports sponsorships and TV/radio advertising time limits.
Other notable regulatory moves
- A draft bill was introduced to amend the Gambling Law, aiming to reintroduce advertising restrictions with proper legal backing.
- Nearly €65.4 million in fines were imposed by the Ministry for Consumer Affairs in the first half of 2024 for non-compliance.
- 13 unlicensed operators were fined €5 million each for “very serious infringements” and disqualified for two years.
- The government continued to enforce player protection measures, including the development of a new centralised monitoring system to track player deposits across operators.
- By 2024, operators were required to record and report ‘risk profiles’ for customers under 25 years old.
iG World Tour 2025
Join us for our next exclusive iGathering networking evening in Barcelona on January 20th.
