Record Figures for Portugal's Online Gambling Market
A market that it seems is certainly one to watch in the online gambling industry, Portugal, appears to be gaining significant traction, following another record quarter for revenue figures.
It's €159.1 million in revenue is a landmark high, with online casinos being deemed as the sector that is most responsible for this.
The SRIJ (Gaming Regulation and Inspection Service) has indicated that the latest revenue figure has topped its previous record set in the first quarter of this year by 39.3 percent (€158.5 million).
Online Slots the Biggest Driver
In total, during the third quarter, players in Portugal wagered €2.48 billion via online casino products - a record and a 31.9 percent year-on-year increase.
Easily, online slots were the most popular product for players, with this being responsible for 80 percent of total stakes. Meanwhile, French roulette was responsible for 7.6 percent of stakes, blackjack 4.9 percent, and Banca Francaise 3.6 percent.
Certainly, when looking at the popularity of some of the games, such as those with a French origin, this is interesting; however, unbeknown to many people is that there is a considerable contingent of French people in Portugal that have residency, which could go some way to explaining these statistics.
The Portuguese online gambling market as a whole is growing bigger by the month, with more and more operators registering interest in a license after seeing considerable traction from competitors in the country - certainly, Betano is one brand that has reported strong performances. Despite this, though, over the last few months, the market regulator blocked 63 illegal sites, with 60 other operators ordered to close theirs down.
Major Increase in Sports Betting Revenue
For online sports betting, there was also a considerable boost in revenue figures - up 40.1 percent year-on-year of €69.3 million, though not quite the record high of the first quarter.
A total of €348.2 million was wagered on sports - a year-on-year increase of 17.3 percent, with football (soccer) being the sport that dominated the market.
The Portuguese league (Primera Liga) made up 11 percent of this figure, while 10.5 percent was attributed to the Champions League and 6.2 percent to the English Premier League. Interestingly, tennis made up 17.1 percent of the bets.
Intriguing Figures When Analyzing the Economy
For a country that is only home to 10.9 million people, these are impressive numbers for the Portuguese online gambling industry; however, non-Portuguese residents must also be taken into account.
It is made even more astonishing when factoring in that the average minimum salary in Portugal is €700/month - arguably one of the lowest in Europe. Despite this, though, there is an ever-growing presence of remote employees from other countries such as the USA, Canada, the UK, and other stronger economically developed European nations such as Germany and the Scandinavian region.
This is likely to have had some impact on what can only be described as staggering wagering figures for the country. The next 12 months will be very interesting for the Portuguese online gambling market when taking into account the latest activity.
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