Spanish Online Gaming Announce Record Quarter 1 Revenues

Two years after online gaming became legalised in Spain the country are now recording record gaming revenues according to financial reports that have been released today.

The Spanish regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) have today reported gross gaming revenues of €67.9 million ($92.4 million) during the first quarter of 2014, a figure that represents an increase of 9.2% compared to the same period as last year. During the first quarter of the year the DGOJ also reported that Spanish gamers staked a grand total of €1.6 billion, which represents an increase of 16.1% compared to the first quarter of 2013.

Sports Betting at Record Levels
When broken down further the DGOJ reported that sports betting was the most popular amongst gamers with €642.7 million being staked during the first three months of the year, a figure that generated well over half of all gaming revenues at €37.6 million, or if you prefer 55.4%. Online poker figures were also impressive during the first quarter of the year as well as they generated a total of €17.7 million, which equates to 26% of the first quarters gaming figures.

Casino revenues came in at third place on the list of gaming revenues for the first quarter of the year with a total of 13.1%, with bingo and contests lagging somewhat behind with totals of 3.1% and 2.4% of all gaming revenues recorded during the same period. Whilst these figures are somewhat disappointing compared to the top three they still represent an improvement on the previous years figures according to the DGOJ. The DGOJ were also quick to add that January was a record month with gamers and sports bettors gambling a whopping €540.2 million during the first month of the year.

Spanish Gaming Licences
Gaming licences in Spain were first awarded back in June 2012 to companies like bwin.party Digital Entertainment, 888 Holdings, Sportingbet, William Hill and poker specialists Pokerstars, just some of the 59 companies that applied. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the year stands up after a successful start to 2014, but if the remaining three quarters are as good as the first the Spanish DGOJ will be celebrating at the end of the year.