Portugal Online Gambling Market Off to Solid Start

Portugal only opened its online gambling market up to regulation last year, but during the 10 month period from May 2016 to March 2017 still generated a solid €82.2 million in revenue, according to information released by the country’s gambling regulator Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ). Furthermore, the popularity of Portugal’s gambling market has continued its upwards trajectory ever since, and for the first quarter of 2017 is already higher by 13.7% at €31 million compared to the €27 million posted over the previous quarter.
Commanding the lion’s share of the market is the sports betting segment, which for the first ten months post-regulation produced €57.6 million in revenue, accounting for 70% of Portugal’s total internet gambling business. Nevertheless, the vertical is currently showing signs of contraction, with the €17.4 million it generated in Q1 of 2017 down from the €18 million posted in Q4 of 2016, and the €22.2 million in Q3 of 2016.
Casino games and poker, on the other hand, produced revenues of €25.1 million between July 2016 and March 2017, with Q1 of 2017 also up almost 50% at €13.9 million versus Q4 of 2016. From that figure, online slot games accounted for 34% of the market, followed by cash game poker (23.7%), and tournament poker (9%). In other words, poker currently accounts for 32.72% or €8.2 million of Portugal’s internet casino segment, all of which was reaped by PokerStars, currently the country’s sole licensed operator in this space. Moreover, a quick glance at PokerStars.pt currently shows an impressive 30,397 players on the site, the overwhelming majority of which are taking place in tournaments.
Whilst demonstrating the clear popularity of the product, the numbers are sure to soar exponentially when the country does finally open its ring-fenced market up to international players from other sizeable markets, including those based in France, Italy, and Spain. According to forecasts, this should start happening sometime at the end of this year, or in the early part of 2018