owing its move towards regulated operations ten months ago, Portugal’s iGaming industry has grown to an estimated market value of €82.2m in the period May 2016-March 2017 according to Portuguese gaming authorities.

Figures released by Portuguese gaming regulator Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) reveal that its six licensed operators generated a total of €31m during the first quarter of 2017, up 13.7% from the previous quarters €27m.

Revenue from betting operations amounted to €17.4m in Q1 2017, decreasing slightly from the €18m reported in Q4 2016, with sports betting accounting for over 70% of revenue generated.

This fall is the third time that revenue from betting operations has decreased following a drop of €4.2m from the third quarter of 2016.

Casino gaming including online poker contributed €25.1m in revenue during the period following the issuing of the first online casino licence in July and March 2017.

Overall, sports betting generated revenue of €57.6m in the first ten months the inception of regulation of the Portuguese iGaming industry.

After several years of parliamentary deliberation, the Portuguese government approved the regulation of online gambling in 2015, with the new framework coming into effect in the spring of 2016.

Under current legislation sports betting operators must pay a tax of between 8% and 16% on turnover above €30m, with online casino licensees being taxed at rates of between 15% and 30% on gross gaming revenue over €10m.