Portuguese online gaming revenue up by 52% in Q4 2019

Portugal online gaming revenue for the fourth quarter of 2019 amounted to €65.4 million (USD 70.9 M). The national gaming regulator said there was growth in all areas of the industry.

According to statistics released last week by the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ), revenue for the three months ending December 31, 2019, saw a rise of 52.1% year-on-year from €43.0 million in the last quarter of 2018. This period also represented the 8th consecutive quarter in which the market set a new record in revenue, going past the previous high of €54.1 million in Q3.

The revenue from sports wagering for the quarter came to €33.4 million, up by 55% compared to the prior year. Consumers bet an aggregate of €185.3 million, which is 67.5% higher than in 2018 Q4. Football was the favourite sport to gamble on in the period, accounting for 74.6% of all bets. Basketball was a distant second with 13.3%, followed by tennis at 6.3%.

Moreover, revenue from online games of chance also saw an increase of 49.1% year-on-year to €32.0m, as the amount spent by players on such games increased to €852.2m, a 47.9% gain. Slots made up for 69% of online casino wagering action in Q4, which is way ahead of French roulette at 13.6% with poker making up for 9.4% share of the market.

Portuguese market saw an aggregate of 12 approved operators active in the market during Q4, compared to 9 during the same period last year. The operators accounted for 20 licenses amongst them, 9 of which covered sports wagering, while 11 counted towards games of chance.

Online gambling tax for Q4 paid by the licensed operators amounted to €35.8 million (USD 38.8M), a rise of 67.4% compared to last year. It was reported that a total of 390,400 people placed online bets during the 4th quarter. 163,900 new account registrations were witnessed during this period, up from 103,500 in the same time frame in 2018

Furthermore, SRIJ also published numbers for the country’s land-based sector, with the overall revenue for the market showing a decline of 0.8% year-on-year to €80.6m. The most popular form of land-based gambling for Q4 were gaming machines, accounting for €66.1m of total revenue – this was, however, down by 3.5% compared to the same period in 2018.

Revenue from table games rose 15.5% on a year-on-year basis to €13.6m, but bingo and poker revenue declined by 10.1% to €991,190.