UC3M and CODERE present the 2016/2017 Annual Spanish Gaming Report
11/30/17
The Institute of Policy and Governance (IPOLGOB) of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the CODERE Foundation have presented the 2016/2017 Annual Spanish Gaming Report, a sector that moved last year 37,740 million euros, 2 percent more than the previous year.
The sixth edition of this publication, which was presented at the Gran Vía Casino in Madrid, synthesizes all the statistical information about different aspects of the gaming industry in Spain. This year, the report analyzes the behavior of on-line bettors and includes data about gaming and bingo hall chains.
According to the report, real gaming in Spain (amounts wagered minus prizes) represents about 8.886 billion euros, compared with 8.7165 billion euros in 2015. Ninety-five percent of gaming (about 8.442 billion euros) is done on site, compared with 444 million euros recorded for on-line gaming.
The biggest volume of real gaming (35.6%) corresponds to the State Lotteries and Bets Society (SELAE), followed by machines in the hotel industry (28.1%) and the ONCE (10.6%). On-line gaming represents a small fraction of the gaming in Spain (5%), but its importance is growing.
“There is a feeling in the industry that the data about gaming is not very reliable, that there are contradictions between the sources and discrepancies in the data. This is not so. The fact is that it is dispersed in its formats and its publication dates, creating a confusing feeling. The work of the report consists of compiling this information over the course of the year and ordering it,” said José Antonio Gómez Yáñez. Gómez is a sociology professor at the UC3M, a member of the IPOLGOB and the technical director of the report’s research team.
The biggest predicament that writing the report poses, according to its authors, has been the unreliability of certain data offered by certain institutions or business associations in the sector. “It seems incredible that, in the 21st century, the official figures that reflect the activity of this industry are not published, or are published with considerable delay, that the mandatory transparency is ignored,” said José Ignacio Cases Méndez. Cases is a professor emeritus at the UC3M, the Vice-President of the CODERE Foundation and the technical director of the report’s research team.
The gaming industry’s contribution to society
In 2016, almost 4,000 new jobs were generated, especially in the area of gaming halls and betting shops. Gaming employs nearly 84,000 people in Spain. A bit less than half the people are employed by SELAE and ONCE. SELAE provides jobs through its central services and administrations, and ONCE through its vendors and central services, which employ 20,000 people. Private companies account for 44,550 jobs. There are also about 160,000 jobs generated indirectly by the gaming sector. Most of them are generated from on-site gaming, given that on-line gaming creates few jobs in Spain because most of the Internet employees are foreigners.
In specific taxes on gaming, different public administrations in Spain collected nearly 1.674 billion euros in 2016, 1.218 billion of which came from taxes on company activities. This includes public operators (SELAE), semi-public operators and private companies. It can be estimated that between 33 and 37 percent of company margins for gaming (their real income) are earmarked for tax payments.
