Online gambling in Portugal takes step backwards
The struggle that local operators face to get new customers impacted on Portugal’s online gambling second quarter results.
Portugal.- The Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal -SRIJ- (Regulatory and Inspection Service of Portuguese Tourism Games) announced the second quarter results of 2017, where online gambling licensees reported revenue of US$30 million.
The seven licensees’ results establish the first series of decline ever since the market was launched a year ago, and the second-lowest since the third quarter of 2016, when US$28.4 million were reported. To the end of June, the online gambling market in Portugal has generated revenue of US$127 million approximately. As the SRIJ reported, sports betting revenue has been falling for twelve months straight, mainly because the peak happened during the Euro 2016 tournament. The gambling activity generated US$16.4 million in the three month period ending June 30, 20 percent lower than the first three months of this year.
Moreover, online casino numbers fell to US$13.4 million, even if May experienced a peak of US$5.1 million. Slots are still the main activity when it comes to online casino revenue, as it hold 38.1 percent of the shares, poker cash games being in second place with a 24 percent and followed by roulette with 19 percent.
During the first six months of the year, Portugal experienced a decrease in new online customer registrations as well, with only 64k people signing up to services, half of the accounts registered during the first quarter, and significantly lower than the second half of 2016, when the market totaled 411k Portuguese players. Portugal’s government said that online gambling brought US$19.2 million in tax revenue, approximately a quarter of the operator’s total revenue.
Last month, the French operator ARJEL published the conditions to implement the latest financial modality of online poker operations throughout the markets of Portugal, Italy, France and Spain. Authorised operators could apply to the project in order to set further strategies to develop the industry. Once operators enter the online poker shared liquidity project, gaming regulators would investigate the companies’ businesses and later approve or reject the petition.
Furthermore, the National Association of Online Gamblers (ANAon) of Portugal revealed during June the intention to present a petition in parliament that includes 4600 signatures from gamblers that want the government to set a new tax rate, as they believe that the high rates leave almost nothing for promotion and operating costs.
