Portuguese First Quarter Market Feedback

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Jun 26, 2017

Just four licensed operators, some of which operate more than one vertical

Portuguese gaming regulator Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) has reported on the 10 month period, from May 2016 to March 2017, estimating an online market worth around Euro 82.2 million in revenues of which 70 percent, or Euro 57.6 million, was attributed to sports betting.

In the first quarter 2017, Portugal’s online market generated total revenues of just over Euro 31 million, a 13.7 percent increase over the previous quarter (Q4/2016: Euro 27 million).

Online betting revenue dropped 3.3 percent compared to Q4/2016 to reach Euro 17.4 million (Q4/2016: Euro 18 million). Online casino grew 40 percent quarter-on-quarter to reach Euro 14 million in the first quarter 2017, led by slots (31 percent) and cash poker games (23.7 percent).

SRIJ revealed it had mounted nine legal challenges against unidentified illegal operators who have reportedly ignored cease-and-desist notifications which were sent to some 220 operators.  Another 146 notifications were issued to local ISPs to block offending domains.

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