Online gambling revenue in Portugal grows by a quarter in the first quarter
Photo: Free Pik

The Portuguese gambling regulator, Serviços de Regulação e Inspecção de Jogos (SRIJ), reported that online gaming revenue generated in the country reached €196.4 million in the first three months of 2023. This represents an increase of 24.8% year-on-year year and above record Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Online sports betting generated €85.7 million in bets of €441.4 million. Sports betting tracking was down 3.8% from the fourth quarter but was up 19.5% year over year. Football accounted for 70.6% of all bets, with basketball and tennis making up most of the rest. Other online bets saw bets of €2.97 billion.

Gambling revenue from casinos and slot machine rooms was €65.9 million, up 22.2% year-on-year but down 1.7% from Q4 2022.

Non-bank games – poker and bingo tournaments – generated €998,490, up 50.3% year-on-year. Meanwhile, gaming machine revenue grew by 15.9% year-on-year to €50.9m, and bank games generated €14m.

The SRIJ reported that, as of March 31, there were 166,300 players on Portugal’s gaming self-exclusion list.

Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos de Portugal

Integrated with the Instituto do Turismo de Portugal and subject to the supervision of the Minister of Economy and the Sea, the Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos  (SRIJ) has technical and functional autonomy and powers of public authority in the exercise of its competences.

Thus, the SRIJ is responsible for ensuring and regulating the practice and exploitation of games of fortune and online gambling and betting, ensuring that all legal regulations in force are complied with.