Portugal online gambling market suffers first revenue decline

Portugal’s regulated online gambling market took a step backward in Q2 as locally licensed operators struggled to find new customers.

The Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body released its Q2 and H1 2017 online gambling figures on Tuesday, which showed the market’s seven online licensees reporting revenue of €25.4m in the three months ending June 30.

That figure represents the first sequential revenue decline since the market launched in June 2016. It’s also the second-lowest quarterly total since Q3 2016’s €24.1m, and well below the €31.4m the market generated in Q1 2017. To date, the market has generated total revenue of €108.1m.

Sports betting revenue has been on an uninterrupted decline since the market launched, partly due to the launch coinciding with the start of the Euro 2016 football tournament. But sports betting generated only €13.9m in Q2 2017, 20% less than in Q1 2017, and each month of the most recent quarter brought in less than the month before.