Spanish online slots launch boosts female participation in regulated market

spain-online-slots-female-gamblersSpain’s regulated online gambling market remains a male-dominated space but the number of female gamblers enjoyed a significant spike last year.

According to a new report by Spanish gaming regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), men still make up 83% of those who gamble with Spanish-licensed sites, but the number of females participating in the market rose 53.5% in 2015, a surge undoubtedly attributable to the mid-year addition of slots as an online option.

Not surprisingly, the casino vertical enjoyed the largest year-on-year participation gains, rising 80.4% in 2015. Bingo posted the second largest gain (37.6%), narrowly edging out sports betting (34.4%), while poker (predictably) saw participation levels fall 2.1%.

Active player accounts with Spanish-licensed operators totaled 985k in 2015, up 19.6% from 2014. The monthly average number of active players was up 16.2% but their average playing time fell 2.7%. Some 70% of active players held accounts with just one Spanish operator.

The average annual expenditure via these accounts was €293 and men spent more than twice as much (€322) as women (€146). The peak spending demographic was men aged 36-45 years, who laid out an average of €552, while the 18-25 female demo spent the least at €15.

Over 60% of active accounts engaged in a single online vertical, led by the 66.3% who bet on sports, while 25.5% played only online poker. For players who engaged in two different verticals, 21.7% bet on sports and poker, while 15.1% mixed sports and roulette.

Over 2.4m players had registered an account with a Spanish-licensed operator by the end of 2015, 25.3% higher than by the end of 2014, although the pace of growth is down 14 points from 2014. The total number of registered accounts was up 36.7% to 5.45m.