Pending government approval of their license application, LeoVegas will become the latest major operator to enter the Spanish online market at some point early next year, most likely in the first quarter.
That market is widely seen as far from saturated; it has continued to exhibit strong growth, around 30% year-on-year for the third quarter of 2018, yet just over 10% of all gambling in Spain takes place online. Taken together – and considering that the tax on online casino services in Spain was just reduced from 25% of GGR to 20% – these factors seem to indicate a market with an incredible upside ahead for effective international operators.
LeoVegas have their eyes set on more than just Spain, however, as CEO Gustaf Hagman made clear in his accompanying statement: “We are now taking the next step on our global expansion journey, our first license in a Spanish-speaking country. Spain is one of the fastest growing markets in Europe, (and) we expect to launch in Spain in the first quarter of 2019.
“We see establishment in the Spanish market as a first step… into several (other) Spanish-speaking countries.”
LeoVegas already has licenses in Malta, the UK, Italy, Ireland, and Denmark, and the firm was recently granted one in Sweden, as well, as the newly-liberalised Swedish market looks set to take off from on 1st January 2019. LeoVegas are a firm which thus far certainly show no signs of slowing, and the fact that they have been involved in multiple parallel license acquisition processes with Sweden and Spain certainly indicates the effectiveness and ambition of the firm.
