Operator News
Spain – Spanish gambling down overall but jobs remain stable says new report
By James - 24 November 2022
The Business Council of Gaming (Cejuego), presented the latest edition of the Gaming Yearbook, in which they reported that the level of spending on private games stood at EUR 12,678 million – a 19% drop compared to 2019.
The Gaming Yearbook, which was presented by CeJuego at the headquarters of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), specified that this drop in spending was recorded in “casinos, bingos, lounges, sports betting and machines.”
According to the report, during 2021, a total of EUR 3,956 million was spent in landbased gambling establishments. The report defines this figure as ” the difference between the amounts played by consumers and the prizes distributed by the different games.” The figure represented 42.5% of the total gaming spend.
When it came to public gaming, such as lotteries and pools managed by the State Lottery and State Betting Society (SELAE) and the ONCE lottery the report indicated that these had recovered to 95% compared to 2019, with a spend of EUR 4,504 million.
Meanwhile, a total of EUR 825 million was spent online accounting for 8.8% of the market. Although in 2021 it had recovered its upward trend online gambling fell compared to 2020. This indicated that during the months of temporary closure dring the pandemic, online gambling functioned as a substitute to land based gambling.
Based on these figures, CeJuego pointed out that “almost half of gambling spending, 48.5%, goes to lotteries and pools managed by the public sector.” They added that, “in total, EUR 9,285 million were gambled in Spain”, some USD 9,591 million, and that “combining publicly owned gambling games and private entertainment games, the levels of gambling spending have not yet reached the data of 2019, when EUR 10,273 million was played”.
CeJuego emphasised that in terms of employment and despite the partial economic recovery, “the sector has maintained practically the same levels in terms of employment: a total of 84,697 direct jobs, of which 47,253, 55.8% , correspond to the private gaming (sector)”.
CEO of CeJuego, Alejandro Landaluce, said: “Despite the slow recovery that we usually experience in the face of a crisis, we are pleased that the jobs created in the private gaming sector can be maintained. It is essential to give guarantees to workers and provide them with peace of mind in times of uncertainty,” he said.
