Spain Contributes €3,600 Million to European Lotteries
The European Association of State Lotteries and Toto, also known as the European Lotteries (EL) recently shared its 16th annual report. The report highlights contributions to the lottery by various EU member states, out of the states that report these numbers. Spain came up as the second highest contributor with €3,600 million — or approximately $3,846,708,000 USD.
European Lotteries (EL) has finally disclosed its 16th annual report for 2021.
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Looking back at 2021
Though many gaming entities are currently sharing their 2022 numbers, the EL takes longer with their comprehensive reports. Its recent 16th annual report covers the year of 2021. Despite the many challenges faced during that year, the lotteries across the EU showed significant growth and revenue intake.
In 2021, nearly as much as in 2020, Covid-19 disrupted the lottery industry of Europe. Lockdowns continued throughout the year in some countries, affecting in-person lottery retailers. Additional economic challenges followed, as well as various environmental disasters across the EU.
Yet, the lotteries across the continent thrived. National lotteries adapted to offer their services digitally and to address urgent crises. The contributions in 2021 were therefore surprisingly high. While some gaming companies avoid looking at 2020 and 2021 numbers as indicators of growth due to the unusual circumstances of these years, the EL can showcase them proudly.
Secretary General of European Lotteries, Arjan van ‘t Veer, shared one key piece of data from the report: Contributions from the various member states increased by 5.1% when comparing 2021 to 2019, the most recent pre-pandemic year.
That is a significant statistic that shows that, despite the EU still being affected by Covid, the lottery industry did not only match its previous figures but exceeded them. Van ‘t Veer also explained that this shows what an important contribution the lottery makes to societies during difficult times, since this revenue funds governmental projects in turn.
Van ‘t Veer spoke positively about what the report shows, and reiterated the EL’s commitment to supporting communities in difficult times, while providing a trustworthy service and protecting consumers. The contributions he speaks of include funds for culture, sports, education and health outreach.
Breaking down the numbers
67 EL members contributed an amount of €20,000 million — or about $21.37 million USD — to social causes in 2021. This was a 13% increase on 2020, which is not surprising, but also a 10% increase compared to 2019. This equates to 55.6% of the gross gaming revenue (GGR) generated by EL states.
Looking closer at members of the European Union, which are 49 states altogether, the total amount generated in 2021 added up to €17.9 billion. This was 12.6% more than 2020 and 10.6% more than 2019. The most successful in generating these figures were France (€3,800 million), followed by Spain (€3,600 million), and then Germany (€3,200 million).
The main gaming categories sold continue to be draw-based games, instant games and sports-related games. In these categories, EU members sold €89.7 billion worth of products in 2021. These numbers were more severely affected during 2020 by Covid. When adding in the rest of the 67 EL member states, the amount rose to €105.8 billion for a 23.1% increase on 2020’s figures, and a rise from 2019 as well.
The EL is also proud to share how it contributes to society by way of jobs. Nearly 45,000 people were employed by lotteries across EU states, and nearly 50,000 across all 67 member states were full-time employees. The gender balance of the latter number was also 1:1.
It is also interesting to note that Responsible Gaming Certification has been mandatory since 2020. 93% of EL contributors are now certified, with the EL investing revenue into this cause as well.
