Portuguese regulator Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) reported a 23.6% year-on-year increase in online gambling revenue for the first quarter of 2022.
Revenue for the three months to the end of March was €158.6m (£135.3m/$161.7m), up from €128.3m in the corresponding period last year.
Online casino revenue for the quarter amounted to €80.9m, which was 37.6% higher than €58.8m in Q1 of 2021, while online sports betting revenue also increased 11.8% to €77.7m.
Looking at player spending, consumers wagered a total of €2.21bn on online casino during the three-month period, up 37.3% year-on-year, though online sports bets were down by 12.8% to €369.4m.
Breaking down player gambling habits, of the total amount wagered in online casino, 78.1% was on slot games, with 8.8% on French roulette and 5.1% on blackjack.
In terms of sports betting, 69.9% of all online bets placed were on football, with 12.4% each on basketball and tennis, and the remaining 5.3% split across other sports.
Other standout figures from Q1 included that 215,600 new online gambling accounts were opened during the period, down 34.6% from last year, while as of the end of Q1, a total of 118,900 people had self-excluded from all forms of regulated online gambling.
In addition, the SRIJ said it had blocked access to a further 71 sites that had been operating without approval, while another 82 sites were ordered to halt activities in the country.
Turning to land-based gambling and revenue for the quarter declined 7.2% year-on-year to €53.9m.
Of this total, €43.9m came from gaming machines, accounting for 81.4% of all revenue in the quarter, while €9.4m was attributed to table games and €663,950 to bingo and unbanked poker.
