Ninth Online Gambling License in Portugal Bagged by Casino Portugal
After having made significant gains in Portugal ever since the country decided to regulate operations back in 2015, the country is now issuing the ninth license to Sociedade Figueira Praia, one of Portugal’s foremost land-based Casino operator. The new license will be used by the gambling company as a part of its expansion program into the newly emerged online gambling arena. Praia’s company, Casino Portugal, had recently received a license for online sports betting. The ninth license will be crucial for the gambling tycoon to take his gambling firm further.
The Sociedade Figueira Praia, the firm operating Casino Portugal, is already one among the four companies that currently share the other 8 licenses that have been issued by the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ). Jorge Armindo Teixeira, chairman of Amorim Turismo, the parent company of Sociedade Figueira Praia, has confirmed the news, saying that the firm looks forward to “consolidate the growth achieved in the first months of exploitation of sports betting”, affirming the firm’s intentions of taking on online gambling by storm. This move by the firm is also indicative that online gambling has a very bright future in Portugal, and indeed, all of Europe.
The other companies that also hold licenses to online gambling are BET Entertainment Technologies, Betclic Everest Group, and Estoril Sol. PokerStars still remains the only company to own an online poker license in the country. As such, PokerStars is enjoying a monopoly over this area in the country, making significant gains from its lack of competitors.
Sociedade Figueira Praia had joined the family of those holding online gambling licenses in June. According to Teixeira, receiving the ninth license was a ‘critical development’ in their efforts towards seizing the online gambling market ever since they received the previous license in June.
Despite the slump that online gambling has been facing recently, firms such as Sociedade Figueira Praia have been seeing better days with their land-based casinos. The gains that they have made in their land-based operations could help them see through the rough patch that all online gambling firms have hit off late, and get stronger when things turn brighter. Interestingly, there has been an overall decline in the value of online gambling due to the heavy taxes that Portugal placed on online gambling firms. Despite this, online gambling in Portugal has still grown to a market value of €82.2m according to estimates.
