Portugal’s online gambling market has hit its first speed bump after nearly three years of uninterrupted growth. Gross revenue fell to €284.7 million in Q1 2025, a 12% slide from the record-setting €323 million posted in Q4 2024. Despite the dip, revenue was still 9.1% higher than the same quarter last year.
The decline snaps a ten-quarter growth streak and marks the steepest quarterly drop since 2018. Online casinos generated €169.7 million, a 8.1% decrease from the previous quarter but still a 5.9% increase year-over-year. Sports betting took a sharper hit, pulling in €114.9 million, down 16.9% from Q4 but 14.4% above Q1 2024 levels.
Player Activity Remains High
Player engagement tells a different story. Active gambling accounts rose to 4.8 million in Q1, a 7% increase from the previous quarter. Still, new registrations fell nearly 15%, suggesting the market’s expansion may be slowing.
Roughly 1.2 million accounts were actively used for gambling, up 6.8% year-on-year. Of these, 34% focused solely on online casino games, 23.1% on sports betting, and 42.8% played both.
Self-exclusion also surged. More than 309,000 accounts voluntarily blocked access to gambling platforms—up 30.9% from Q1 2024 and 5.7% higher than Q4.
Where the Money Goes
Football continued to dominate the sports betting scene, accounting for 71.2% of all bets. Tennis followed at 16%, and basketball came in at 9.2%. Top competitions included the Portuguese Primeira Liga and UEFA Champions League.
In online casinos, slot machines remained the go-to choice, making up 78.2% of wagers. Other notable games included Banca Francesa (6.5%), French Roulette (5.7%), Blackjack (4.6%), Crash games (3.4%), and Poker variants (1.6%).
Players wagered €4.67 billion on casino games during the quarter, down 9.4% from Q4 but up 7.2% from a year ago. Sports betting stakes totaled €501.9 million, reflecting a 12.5% year-on-year drop.
Tax Revenue and Enforcement
The government collected €82.7 million in gambling taxes for the quarter, in line with fiscal goals but slightly under Q4’s total.
Regulators stepped up enforcement, issuing 54 takedown notices, launching five legal proceedings, and ordering 129 site blocks. Since 2015, over 1,425 illegal operators have been targeted and 2,391 websites blocked.
What Might Happen Next?
The Q1 drop may signal a cooling phase after Portugal’s online gambling market surpassed €1.11 billion in revenue for 2024, a 42% leap from the previous year. With 30 licensed operators now active, the market appears to be stabilizing after a period of explosive growth. Whether this dip marks a brief pause or a longer plateau remains to be seen.
