A new report into the Spanish gaming market has reportedly revealed that the sector is well on its way to making a full recovery as aggregated casino revenues for 2015 improved by 5.9% year-on-year to reach $26.89 billion.
According to a report from G3 Newswire, the investigation was carried out by Spanish gaming operator Codere in partnership with the Universidad Carlos III De Madrid and the Institute For Policy And Governance and showed that gaming now accounts for up to 3% of the European nation’s gross domestic product.
The study reportedly also indicated that some 1,330 new jobs had been created by private Spanish gaming operators in 2015 while Gomez Yanez, a sociology professor from the Universidad Carlos III De Madrid, declared that the sector is creating high-quality employment “with a very high degree of stability”.
The investigation moreover found that $9.02 billion had been wagered online during 2015 while the land-based sector was returning to pre-2001 levels of spending due, in part, to legislative changes in a number of regions including Madrid, which recently legalized bingo halls and casinos.
While lottery takings exceeded $9.17 billion last year, the report proclaimed that tax revenues from gaming in Spain stood at $1.71 billion with $475.63 million of this coming from a 2010 duty that applies a 20% levy on any prizes worth more than $2,636.
The investigation indicated that the largest resurgence has come from the sportsbetting vertical as 2015 turnover rose by up to 41.3% year-on-year to stand at $5.68 billion with about 78% of this gambled over the Internet.
However, the picture was not all promising as a 10% fall year-on-year in bingo takings for 2015 saw local governments collect $24.24 million less in tax at $1.11 billion although this was partly recovered by a 45.9% boost in sportsbetting levies to $26.88 million with casinos contributing 8.8% more at $65.17 million.
Meanwhile, tax income for the regions generated by slots located in bars and hotels remained relatively static at $761.11 million while casinos paid 16.1% less year-on-year at $120.25 million.