Revenue for the three months to 30 September grew to €197.2m (£176.9m/$241.9m), with amounts staked by players growing 11.9% to €853.3m.
The online casino vertical had a strong performance, with a 26.0% year-on-year revenue increase to €83.9m, making it the second-largest source of revenue for licensees, slightly behind sports betting.
However, the overall revenue for the casino vertical was down 10.3% quarter-over-quarter, reaching €93.5m in Q2.
Sports betting experienced a recovery in Q3, with revenue up 25.1% from Q2 to €85.2m, but still representing a 15.4% decline compared to Q3 2019’s revenue.
The return of sporting events like Spain’s La Liga and the Champion’s League during the third quarter offset declines in revenue from horse racing and non-sporting events.
Similar to the online casino, bingo, poker, and real-money contests had a decrease in revenue quarter-on-quarter, but an increase in revenue year-over-year.
Poker revenue was €23.0m, a 39.8% drop from the second quarter but a 12.4% improvement compared to Q3 2019.
Bingo revenue fell 22.9% from Q2 to €3.9m, but showed a year-on-year increase of 22.6%.
Contests, being the smallest source of regulated iGaming revenue, contributed €1.2m to the quarterly total. This represented a 70.6% drop from Q2 but a 58.4% jump from the previous year.
The Spanish regulator, La Direcciòn General del Ordenaciōn del Juego (DGOJ), noted that the vertical’s performance tends to fluctuate significantly in the third quarter.
With the return of live sports, marketing spend by Spanish licensees significantly increased to a total of €150.1m, a 269.5% jump from Q2 and an 81.4% rise compared to Q3 2019.
The end of temporary advertising restrictions implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic and the new gambling ad controls introduced by the government in November contributed to this increase.
In Q3, most of the marketing spend went towards bonus offers (€82.4m) and advertising (€51.8m). Sponsorship accounted for €6.5m of the total, while spending with affiliates decreased year-on-year to €9.4m.
This increase in marketing spend had a positive impact on the number of active gambling accounts, which averaged 881,755 in Q3, up 37.1% from Q2 or 1.4% year-on-year.
The Spanish government is preparing further restrictions for the industry to enhance player and youth protection in the market.
