More than half of Portuguese gamblers using unlicensed offerings, survey finds

More than half of Portuguese players gambling online are doing so via illegal unlicensed websites, according to a new survey commissioned by the Portuguese Association of Online Gambling (APAJO).

Of the 56% of players who said they bet through both unlicensed international operator sites and Portuguese licensed websites, 6% placed bets exclusively through unlicensed international sites.

Nearly two-thirds of online gamblers said they had chosen to do so via licensed platforms because of the higher security levels of these sites.

Despite the high proportion of players using both unlicensed and licensed sites, APAJO president Gabion Oliveira highlighted the fact that 44% of players bet exclusively on licensed sites, something which points to a “very favourable evolution” in the growth of the Portuguese market.

“This is a positive sign, although we consider in APAJO that there is still much to be done to combat unlicensed online gambling in Portugal,” Oliveira added.

Portuguese online gambling survey results Source: APAJO

Researchers conducted 609 interviews with Portuguese gamblers, of which 509 were with men and 100 with women.

Twenty percent of the individuals surveyed registered with an operator in 2018, with 52% of those players doing so via licensed operators. Among consumers registered in the first half of this year, almost 70% registered only on licensed platforms.

Researchers found 62% of registered gamblers responding to the survey had spent less than 50 euros per month on licensed operator sites.