Part 3: Channelisation and the offshore market
Why go offshore?
The data for why these players
are heading to offshore operators
hints at the problems with the
current regulated regime – there
is not enough competition. The
most important reason put forward
by respondents for playing with
offshore entities rather than
regulated operators is better odds.
As can be seen in Chart 16, this
was followed by better service
and higher payout. The report’s
conclusions on this aspect of the
findings were that, “better odds
being the primary reason why
consumers go offshore is consistent
with the fact that online sports
betting constitutes the biggest
segment of the online gambling
market in Portugal and also the
most restricted due to taxation”.
Preference for online
Again, unsurprisingly given the
nature of the respondents, they
were heavily skewed towards being
online-only punters with the vast
majority (83%) not gambling in
land-based environments at all. The
report’s authors say this justifies
the claims that in Portugal, as with
other markets such as Denmark,
France and Spain, there does not
appear to be any sizeable threat of
cannibalisation of offline.
Assessing the rate of
channelisation
Eurogroup Consulting’s main
findings from the survey were as
follows:
• The number of respondents
who use onshore operators only
amounts to 32% of the total
registered respondents;
Table 5: Monies gambled on sports betting per week by cohort
Number of
gamblers Ave. per
gambler (€)
Between 1 and 10 138 7
10-100 369 64
100-500 214 332
500-1,000 77 936
1,000-5,000 85 3116
Over 5,000 38 15132
Over 50,000 11 n/a
Money gambled (€)
Source: Eurogroup Consulting’s market research study
Table 6: Channelling rates - Eurogroup Consulting estimates
Revenues 1Q17 2Q17 3Q17
Onshore gross revenues - actual
(€m) 31.4 25.4 29.3
Offshore gross revenues – 55%
channelling rate (€m) 25.7 20.8 24.0
Offshore gross revenues – 60%
channelling rate (€m) 20.9 16.9 19.5
Source: Eurogroup Consulting’s market research study
Table 7: Channelling rates — report estimates
Revenues 4Q17 1Q18 2Q18 2017
Onshore gross revenues -
actual (€m) 36.5 32.9 37.3 122.5
Offshore gross revenues –
55% channelling rate (€m) 29.8 26.9 30.5 100.2
Offshore gross revenues –
60% channelling rate (€m) 24.3 21.9 32.3 81.7
Source: Report estimates
Portugal: The challenges and potential in one of Europe’s most controversial markets
17