Portugal smashes online gambling record again in Q4
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Revenue for Q4 of 2023 was 5.6% higher than the previous Portugal record of €215.4m, set in Q3. It was also 16.4% ahead of the €195.3m posted in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Of all revenue, €154.5m was attributed to online casino games, an increase of 40.7% from the previous year. This also represented another new record for Portugal.
Consumers spent €3.84bn playing online casino games in Q4, up by 28.7% year-on-year and another all-time high for the market. Slots drew 83.0% of all these bets, with French roulette at 6.9% and blackjack 4.7%. Other spending was spread across dice games and poker.
Further decline in sports betting revenue despite higher spending
In contrast to growth in online casino segment was another fall in sports betting revenue. For Q4, revenue here amounted to €72.8m, down 14.8% from €85.4 in Portugal in 2022.
However, there was some good news for this market, with player spending rising by 16.0% to €532.1m. This was also higher than any other quarter in 2023 by some distance.
As for what consumers in Portugal are betting on, football was the most popular sport with 74.7% of all wagers. Basketball accounted for 10.8% of bets, tennis 9.7% and other sports 4.8%.
New registrations and self-exclusions rise
The number of new online gambling accounts also increased in Q4. During the quarter, some 319,500 consumers opened a new account in Portugal, compared to 237,600 in the previous year.
By the end of Q4, some 4.2 million online accounts were active in the country.
Accompanying this rise in new player accounts was self-exclusion from online gambling. For Q4, this figure reached 215,000, up 18,400 from Q3 and some 63,200 more than Q4 of 2022.
In addition, authorities in Portugal ordered 23 illegal websites to close during the quarter.
Portugal land-based market shrinks in Q4
Turning to the land-based sector and the news was not so good. Revenue for Q4 amounted to €64.6m, down 3.9% from €67.2m in the same quarter in 2022.
Land-based slot machine revenue fell 3.5% year-on-year to €51.4m, accounting for 79.7% of total Q4 revenue. The remaining €13.7m came from casino-style and bingo games, down 1.5%.
Breaking down the latter, American roulette drew €4.2m, baccarat €3.6m and blackjack €2.8m
