Operator News
Spain – Gaming in Cantabria exceeds €300m mark
By Phil - 26 September 2017
The Spanish autonomous community of Cantabria recorded a total gaming expenditure of €305m in 2016 which represents an increase of 1.3 per cent compared to 2015 according to data released by the Cantabrian Institute of Statistics (ICANE).
For the first time since 2012 gambling surpassed the €300m mark although this falls considerably short of the record which was set in 2006 when spending on gambling stood at €411m.
The increase was driven by gambling in casinos, bingo halls and via slot machines which combined increased by 2.47 per cent and went from €162m in 2015 to €166m in 2016. This compares sharply to 2015 when growth was driven primarily by an increase in lottery spending which was up by 5.6 per cent that year.
The amount played in the Gran Casino de Santander amounted to €18m – 12.5 per cent more than the previous year. This was in keeping with the fact that visitor numbers to the casino were up by 11.2 per cent and stood at 93,791 in 2016.
A total of €14m was played via bingo the same amount as in 2015. However, the total amount of bingo cards sold last year increased by 5.5 per cent and stood at €19m compared to €18m in 2015.
Gambling via slot machines was the most popular form of privately run gambling and stood at €140m in 2016 – a 9.3 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Meanwhile gaming via state run lotteries run by Spanish public lottery entity Loterías y Apuestas del Estado stood at €120m around the same as the previous year. The most popular state run lottery was the National Lottery, where locals spent €67m, one million more than in 2015. However, the amounts played by Cantabrians in the Primitiva Lottery (a lottery which is drawn Thursdays and Saturdays), amounted to €50m in 2016 down by one million Euros. Spending on Quiniela meanwhile remained at the €3m mark as did spending on the ONCE lottery (the lottery in aid of the blind) which stood at €19m.
