Illegal gambling prevails in Portugal

A new survey from APAJO has revealed that more than half of online sports betting and gambling is done through illegal websites in Portugal.

Portugal.- The Portuguese Association of Online Gambling and Betting (APAJO) has released a new poll that shows that more than half of online gambling is done through illegal sites. The survey indicates that 56% of nationally registered players bet through licenced and unlicensed online gambling sites. But of these, only 6% bet exclusively through illegal websites and 44% do it on licensed sites.

The recent survey, commissioned by APAJO from AXIMAGEM, included 609 effective interviews through which it was found that about 94% of registered players had already played for money in 2019.

42% of the registrations were done before 2016 when the regulation of the sector came into force, APAJO said. The remaining 58% happened between 2016 and 2019, with 20% happening in 2018. In 2019, among consumers registered only between January and June, almost 70% were registered only on licenced platforms.

APAJO President Gabino Oliveira said: “[This] data shows a very favourable evolution in the growth of the licensed market. This is a positive sign, although in APAJO we consider that much remains to be done to combat unlicensed online gambling in Portugal.”

“The way to go in combating illegal gambling, beyond supervision, is through effective control and blocking of payments that are made on illegal websites. This is a growing trend in other countries that in Portugal must be properly considered and implemented by the competent entities,” added the President of APAJO.

Young people engage in illegal activity

Oliveira also said that young people between 18 and 24 are the most prominent group on unlicensed platforms. However, while they are almost 53% of the total, that number falls to 29.4% among 25 to 34-year-olds.