Portugal’s online gambling operators got a much-needed boost from the 2018 FIFA World Cup during the second quarter of 2018.

New figures from the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body showed online sports betting revenue hitting €20.5m in the three months ending June 30, a significant bump over the €13.9m recorded in the same period last year and the €17.4m in Q1 2018.

Portugal’s eight licensed online operators – who collectively hold 13 online licenses – reported over 103k new customer registrations in Q2, 40k higher than signed up in Q2 2017. Of these new customers, nearly half signed up in June, in time for the first half of the World Cup tourney.

Total sports betting handle hit €89.8m in Q2, a year-on-year increase of more than €22m, although Q2’s figure marked a sequential decline from Q1’s €100.3m. To no one’s surprise, football accounted for nearly three-quarters (74.4%) of all sports wagers in Q2, with tennis (14.2% and basketball (7.2%) well back of the mark.