Portugal's Casino Revenues Up 8% to €288.6M in 2015
January 28, 2016 1:42 pmFollowing the global economic downturn, Portugal’s land-based casino industry has experienced a dramatic decline in its fortunes. Having reached a peak of €381 million in 2008, for instance, the country has experienced a massive 37% contraction in its casino market, although by 2014 there were signs of a slight recovery after the decline slowed to just -2%, with €267 million in revenues having been collected that year.
The Associação Portuguesa de Casino (ACP) has now released its latest results for the whole of 2015, and it would appear that Portugal’s casino market has finally returned to positive territory, with revenues rising by an impressive 8% to €288.6 million. That growth rate includes a 12.4% improvement in table game revenues, and a 7.2% increase for slot machines.
The country of 10.5 million people has 11 casinos spread throughout its territory, and in 2015 the market was lead by casino operator Estoril-Sol which collected €182.3 million in revenues, which includes its Lisboa Casino (€78.9m), Estoril casino (€61.5m), and the Povoa de Varzim (€41.9m).
Elsewhere, the Solverde group, which operates five casinos, reported an 8.4% increase in revenues to €78 million year-on-year. Meanwhile, the Troi casino was up by 37.5% to €4.4 million; although the Amorim Turism’s Figueira de Fox casino saw its revenues remain largely flat at €14.9 million; with the Pestana group’s Cadino da Madeira reporting a slight slump with revenues falling to €8.6 million.
Land-based casinos in Portugal were not the only ones experiencing a return to positive territory last year, and the French market, too, saw its revenues improve by 2.2% to €2.2 billion in 2015, marking its first return to growth since the global financial crisis. This is all good news for local governments across France, which rely on casino gaming taxes for 30% of their budgets. Recently, the city of Marseilles announced it would give the go-ahead for a local casino to be built in the area, which the mayor said could employ 500 people, and funnel €10 million in annually taxes towards state coffers.