Portugal’s gambling regulator, Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos, has highlighted an increase in both new online player registrations and self-exclusion in the third quarter of 2023 in comparison to the previous quarter.
In addition, the country’s land-based sector had an almost eight per cent improvement year-over-year.
Publishing the data on their website, the SRIJ declared a 36 per cent increase in online gaming and betting gross revenue in Q3 to €215.3m (Q3 2022: €158.2m). 62 per cent of the online revenue came from games of chance, while 38 per cent came from sports betting.
From the 17 licensed games of chance operators and 13 licensed sportsbooks, games of chance revenue improved by 50.5 per cent YoY to €133.4m (2022: €88.7m), while sports betting revenue rose by 17.7 per cent to €81.9m (2022: €69.6m).
Per gaming type, slots recorded 82.3 per cent of all games of chance bets during the period, followed by French roulette (6.4 per cent), blackjack (6.2 per cent), dice games (2.6 per cent), poker (1.5 per cent) and poker tournaments (0.9 per cent).
In terms of sports wagers, football led the way with 71.4 per cent of all bets, followed by tennis at 22.2 per cent, while other bets made up 6.4 per cent.
The SRIJ noted 205,200 new registrations during Q3, up 7.8 per cent compared to the previous quarter, with 97,800 player account cancellations. Total player accounts at the end of the quarter stood at 3.9 million (2022: 3.3m).
Self-exclusion sign-ups rose by 8.3 per cent in comparison to the previous quarter to 196,600.
For Portugal’s land-based industry, the sector recorded €76.1m in gross revenue during Q3, a 14 per cent increase in comparison to the previous quarter, and a 7.8 per cent uptick on the same period the previous year (2022: €70.6m).
Per gaming type, baccarat led the way generating 30.93 per cent of land-based revenue during the quarter, followed by roulette with 30.39 per cent, poker with 17.29 per cent, dice games with 14.18 per cent and poker with 4.99 per cent.
The SRIJ reported that bingo rooms produced €7.02m in revenue during Q3, up 9.1 per cent in comparison to the previous quarter and a 3.9 per cent increase YoY (2022: €6.8m).