In terms of amounts gambled, the total figure comes to almost €3 million, which represents a 13% increase over the third quarter of 2016, and a 20% increase over the same quarter of the previous year.
The gross gaming revenue—including the amounts spent on game participation, after deducting the prizes paid by the operator to participants—has also experienced an increase of more than 20% over the third quarter and an increase of more than 30% over the same quarter of the previous year. Prizes awarded to participants total €2.7 billion, a 12.5% increase over the previous quarter and an increase of almost 20% over the same quarter of 2015.
In the area of advertising and promotion of this type of activity, during this period there was an increase in advertising expenses for the current quarter of over 60% compared to the previous quarter, and of 36% compared to the same quarter in 2015. The promotional expenses (bonuses) recorded during the last quarter of 2016 amounted to €18 million, representing a decrease from the previous quarter of 33% and an increase of 36% in relation to the same quarter of 2015. With regard to sponsorship expenses, there has been a significant increase of 142% over the previous quarter.
Finally, in terms of user participation, it is noteworthy that the number of active users registered during the fourth quarter of 2016 has increased over the previous quarter by about 12%, and by 17% over the same quarter of 2015. Likewise, the number of registered users during the fourth quarter has increased to 600,000 users, representing a decrease of 8% compared to the previous quarter but a 9% increase compared to the same quarter of 2015.
Analyzing the participation in the types of games, the distribution of the amounts gambled shows the clear dominance of betting, which represents 44% of the amounts gambled by users in Spain, while poker accounts for 14%, casino games for 40%, and bingo for 0.65%.
These data clearly show that online gambling activities maintain a steady growth in the Spanish market.