Portuguese gambling operators revenue increased to €152.1 million

Portugal reported an increase in revenues from online betting and gambling to €152.1 million in 2018, which is 24% higher than in 2017.

Sports betting again became the main source of income for licensed operators for 12 months until December 31, 2018. Revenue from this segment was €78.9 million, in 2017 this figure was €68.1 million, according to data from the National Gambling Regulator of Portugal (SRIJ).

In many ways, revenue growth is associated with the World Cup, which took place from June 14 to July 15, 2018. In the second quarter, 74.4% of the revenue among all gambling was related to betting - €20.5 million.

Income from online casinos also increased from €54.4 million in 2017 to €73.2 million in 2018, which shows an increase of 34%.

However, despite the World Cup, the fourth quarter was the most successful for licensed operators. He brought in an income of €43 million (for the same period of 2017, €36.5 million was received).

Income from sports betting was highest in the fourth quarter - €21.6 million, with a total amount of €110.6 million. For comparison: the volume of betting operations were lower in both the second quarter (€89.8 million) and the third (€90.1 million) when the world championship was actually held. At the same time, the total cost of sports betting for 2018 was €391.8 million.

Online casinos in Portugal also reached the highest level in the fourth quarter, with annual revenues of €21.5 million. Slots were the most popular among users in the last three months of the past year. This segment accounted for 61.6% of all bets.

SRIJ also noted that by the end of 2018, a total of 31,500 consumers had decided to independently exclude themselves from participating in gambling.