LISBON: Portugal’s regulated online gambling market enjoyed record-high revenue in the final quarter of 2017, thanks to a surge in online sports betting. Figures released Friday by the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body show the seven locally-licensed online gambling operators generated combined revenue of €36.5m in the three months ending December 31, 2017, nearly €10m higher than the same period last year and over €7m higher than Q3 2017. For the year as a whole the regulated market’s first full calendar year of operation since its May 2016 launch total revenue hit €122.6m. The government’s share of this bounty was a hefty €54.3m, a 44.2% slice of the overall pie, thanks primarily to the market’s punitive 12% tax on sports betting turnover.
Despite the government’s grabby approach to sports wagering, the vertical generated revenue of €20.5m in Q4, 26% higher than the market generated in Q3 2017 and a new quarterly record. Football accounted for over three-quarters of sports wagers, with tennis (12.4%) and basketball (8.5%) a distant second and third.
Total sports revenue hit €68.1m in 2017, or 55.5% of the overall market. The online casino vertical (which includes poker) generated €16m in Q4, another yearly high and 23% higher than Q3’s number. For the year as a whole, online casino revenue totaled €54.4m.Portugal’s licensed online operators signed up over 132k new customers in Q4, roughly 50k more than in Q3, bringing the market’s total registered customer tally to 800k. Around 61% of these registrants are between the ages of 25 and 44, while those in the 18-24 bracket accounted for 27.8% of the total.
