Many online gambling related commentators were of the mind that when Portugal legalised online gambling, the huge tax imposed on all gambling site operators would make it it very hard for them to survive in the long term.
However, that appears not to be the case, for in the third quarter of this year there has been a massive increase in the revenue generated by gambling sites that operate under a Portugal issued gambling license.
In fact, there are not what anybody could call an abundance of licensed online gambling sites which operate in Portugal, for there are only eight of them. But with a total of €38.5m in revenue generated by those sites in the third quarter of this year, it does look like there is money to be made by those handful of gambling site.
That €38.5m is in fact a huge increase in the income generated when compared to the same third quarter of last year, for income up by some €9.2m.
The only problem operators face when it comes to operating under a gambling license in Portugal is that they are required to give the government up to 16% of the revenue raised from their services, which is one of the most excessive tax regimes relating to online gambling.
It is online sports betting which most gamblers in Portugal are interested in taking part in, however there are poker and casino sites on offer, and based on figures also released this week it is slot machines that are the most played games of chance online in Portugal currently.
