Spanish Operator Luckia Gets Gambling Licenses in Portugal

The 14^th and 15^th licenses granted

 

Portugal’s gambling market has been in the news lately for many reasons, the last one being the government’s decision to impose a high tax rate on gambling revenues of operators in the country. Now the country has made to the news for issuing online casino and sports betting licenses to Luckia Gaming Group, a renowned gambling operator from Spain.

 

The regulatory body in Portugal, called the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ), confirmed on Monday that it had issued the 14^th and 15^th online gambling and sports betting licenses to the gaming operator, which now intends to operate in Portugal using the Luckia.pt domain.

 

What is Luckia doing?

 

Luckia Gaming Group has been trumpeting about its new permission slips from the Portuguese commission since early August, albeit the regulatory body’s announcements clarifies that it did not grant any license until September 5, 2018.

 

The domain Luckia.pt is underway, thereby showing the lack of urgency that José González Fuentes, the president of Luckia Gaming Group, provided at the company’s 2017 fiscal review. He told the Spanish media that the group lacked the ambition to enter Portugal owing to the country’s modesty. The Portuguese market was, however, crucial due to its proximity to the company’s base.

 

José González Fuentes also expressed that the country’s tax burden on the online gambling industry was very high, thereby making profit-making a difficult challenge for gaming operators. The country imposes an incremental tax rate of 15 to 30 percent on all online casino and poker activities, and an 8 to 16 percent on sports betting turnover.

 

The high rate of tax on revenues has been criticized for the fact that only eight gaming operators are able to hold the fifteen online licenses in Portugal. All other operators in the country perhaps view the regulated industry as a profit-killer.

 

It was only this month when Portugal’s government decided to impose a twenty-five percent tax on all gambling turnover. These plans, however, haven’t materialized yet, even after a week of delivering the budget for 2019 to the parliament. We can only hope the tables turn favorable in this regard.

 

The Luckia Gaming Group has been expanding its geographic reach, which is also seen in its successful acquisition of a gambling license in Colombia this February. The company is also targeting Nigeria and looking for opportunities in Peru too.