Portuguese GGR up 75% in Q4 2020 as sports betting skyrockets

Portugal’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) rose 75% year-on-year for Q4 2020 to €113.2m (£96.6m), according to new data released by the country’s regulator SRIJ.

Sports betting enjoyed the biggest revenue rise during the period, climbing 90% annually to €64.1m, up from the €33.8m in the same quarter of 2019.

Football increased its stranglehold with an 86.7% share of bets taken during the quarter. Basketball was the second most popular sport (5.2%) with tennis in third (4.8%).

Online gaming revenue rose by 58% during Q4 2020 to €49.1m, with online slots accounting for 71.1% of gameplay.

French roulette (12.6%), blackjack (6.4%) and poker (4.2%) rounded out the top performing online gaming games during the period.

New player registrations jumped 79% to 293,800, compared to 163,900 in Q4 2019, with the number of players self-excluding also rising by 51% to 72,400.

Of these self-excluding players, 88.3% chose to self-exclude indefinitely, with 11.7% choosing to self-exclude for a pre-defined period.

A total of 15 letters were sent by the SRIJ to illegal operators for targeting Portuguese players without a licence during the quarter.

The ISPs of 49 operators were blocked by the regulator during the period.

Fifteen operators have licences for both online gaming and sports betting, an increase of three from the same period in 2019.

Altogether, these entities hold 25 licences, made up of 11 betting licences and 14 for online gaming.