Spanish Gaming Market

[Greg]

I'm been thinking about a new project lately and wanted to get some feedback here. After the latest iGB show in Madrid it seems to me the Spanish market for Poker/Casino is really a nice one right now. There are some new operators carving out nice niches there and the population is pretty excited about poker much like we had here in the US in 2004-05.
From your background, has anyone here tackled Spain yet? If so what are some of the things to watch out for and the successes you had? If you haven't what are some of the things holding you back from that market (besides translation).

Really interested in this guys, thanks for the info!

[MJ]

I'm trying to explore markets like that, but it's tough not being able to understand the language finding reliable information so that I can in turn provide valuable content. Traffic and signups are easy yes, but to be a real player I think (like everything) it all comes down to being able to understand the market needs.

[Laurence]

I decided to move to Barcelona, Spain 2.5 years ago for exactly this reason. I knew the market was wide open here, so I figured I would study Spanish like a mad man and see if I could carve out the oil well. All the western ways of promoting I had learned pretty much failed, which revealed that the Spanish and Catalan market worked in different ways.

Spanish people at this point are incredibly fascinated by poker, more than we would call normal. When I'm occasionally donking chips off in a $50 sit 'n go in the casino, there are actually 20!!!! people railing the final 2/3 where I wonder what the hell is so worthwhile seeiing. For them it is still very fresh and new, and every single one of them thinks he's the quiet cool guy at the table wearing flashy glasses

In short: The Spanish are incredibly tight with money, as the wages are not to make one poor but definately not rich either. Promoting to existing players is tough, as every Spaniard has already downloaded 5-10 poker platform on average to scout all the available freerolls. There is undoubtedly a bulk of money to be made from the Spanish market still, but the player quality is still quite low because the most important books (like harrington) have either been released just now or still need to be released. I've had a meeting about this with someone from Costa Rica who had bought the copyrights for the Spanish market, but I have yet to discover the company that he was planning to set up for it.

Even after 2 years of trying to strike Spanish oil I realize that I can't compete with the Spanish natives, but I own pokerinfo dot es which is a community that is loved by the Spanish members and I'm content with that. My work is at its best on the international field though

I gave a conference about the spanish market in early 2009 in London, it's still online somewhere. If anyone's planning something on the Spanish market, I'd be happy to brainstorm

[szury]

I decided to move to Barcelona, Spain 2.5 years ago for exactly this reason. I knew the market was wide open here, so I figured I would study Spanish like a mad man and see if I could carve out the oil well. All the western ways of promoting I had learned pretty much failed, which revealed that the Spanish and Catalan market worked in different ways.

Spanish people at this point are incredibly fascinated by poker, more than we would call normal. When I'm occasionally donking chips off in a $50 sit 'n go in the casino, there are actually 20!!!! people railing the final 2/3 where I wonder what the hell is so worthwhile seeiing. For them it is still very fresh and new, and every single one of them thinks he's the quiet cool guy at the table wearing flashy glasses

In short: The Spanish are incredibly tight with money, as the wages are not to make one poor but definately not rich either. Promoting to existing players is tough, as every Spaniard has already downloaded 5-10 poker platform on average to scout all the available freerolls. There is undoubtedly a bulk of money to be made from the Spanish market still, but the player quality is still quite low because the most important books (like harrington) have either been released just now or still need to be released. I've had a meeting about this with someone from Costa Rica who had bought the copyrights for the Spanish market, but I have yet to discover the company that he was planning to set up for it.

Even after 2 years of trying to strike Spanish oil I realize that I can't compete with the Spanish natives, but I own pokerinfo dot es which is a community that is loved by the Spanish members and I'm content with that. My work is at its best on the international field though

I gave a conference about the spanish market in early 2009 in London, it's still online somewhere. If anyone's planning something on the Spanish market, I'd be happy to brainstorm

Laurence is the man when it comes to the spanish poker market. Thanks for your post.