Online gambling revenue in Portugal rose significantly year-on-year in the first half of 2020, helped by the shutdown of land-based casinos.
Internet-based casino operators had a particularly fruitful period, with their revenue going up by way over half.
Sports betting also grew, though there was a slight decline in overall player stakes.
Online casino grows, but it might have been a flash in the pan
Over the whole of H1 2020 online casino revenue shot up by 74.1% and stood at €83.7 million. Stakes also rose, with players betting a total of €2.29 billion between them.
Online casino wagers peaked at €479.3 million in April, before petering out to €371.9 million in June. However, June’s figure was still higher than had been the case in January (€304.9 million).
The Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) had the following to say about online gambling in Portugal during H1 2020.
“We can conclude that the closure of the casinos contributed to a significant increase in the respective volume of online gambling, which gradually stabilised, approaching the values prior to the pandemic.
“This reality seems to indicate a preference of the players to bet in a regulated and controlled environment, because even though they are ‘used’ to frequenting physical spaces to play, they chose, instead, to play on legal online sites.”
Football betting still popular
Football betting remained popular throughout H1 2020, though it suffered with COVID-19 shut down most of the sporting world. The best month for wagering was in January (€61.7 million), with the lowest being April (€7.7 million). A decent amount of football returned to the calendar in June, with stakes in that month reaching €55.6 million.
Tennis became a popular sport to bet on during the pandemic. The sport accounted for 22.7% of all sports betting stakes in May, with this then dropping back down to 9.4% in the following month.
At the end of H1 2020, there were 10 regulated sportsbooks and 13 licensed casino operators in the Portuguese market. Both of these are higher than last year, when the numbers were eight for sports betting and 10 for casino gaming.
