Part 4: The future
opportunities with sportsbook.”
Bjorn Krantz, chief commercial
officer at NetEnt agrees. “I think
it’s more the sports-betting
turnover tax rate which is putting
off market entry into Portugal,” he
says. “Whenever a tax is based on
turnover, it makes market entry into
a country much more difficult.”
“From a gaming perspective, I
would say the tax rate, at least on
the lower threshold is reasonable and
we have seen tax rates in that range
in Denmark and United Kingdom,
which are often used as a standard.
I encourage gaming operators to
closely review Portugal.”
The prescription for change
The most obvious route to
promoting further growth in the
regulated market and limiting the
degree of channelisation would
be to both change and alter the
taxation regime. Particularly with
regard to sports betting, a turnover
tax is – from an operator point of
view – a far from perfect solution.
“I trust that local authorities
are aware of the lack of
competitiveness of Portuguese tax
calculation model and eventually
considering its amendment in order
to make this kind of operation
more attractive to local and foreign
operators,” says Madureira at Rato,
Ling, Lei and Cortes.
Yet there are ramifications
around tax that reverberate far
beyond the confines of the gaming
sector. As mentioned, the online
regime was born out of the financial
crisis bailout and the tax structure
was designed to wring what the
authorities believed would be the
optimum amount from the sector
The current tax situation creates a situation
where people are waiting for an update.
Operators can’t change their entire business
model due (only) to a market such as Portugal.
Tiago Almeida, eGaming Services
while effectively protecting the
status of Santa Casa.
“The opening of the Portuguese
gaming online market happened
exactly on the verge of such
bailout (from the Troika) and
therefore one may understand
the reason why the authorities
selected the most profitable
solutions in terms of taxes (but
much less competitive if analysed
from an operator perspective),”
says Madureira.
In the intervening years, the
prospects for the Portuguese
economy have improved. GDP
growth hit 2.7% in 2017 while
unemployment has fallen below 7%
from 12.5% in 2015.
“Considering that the current
economic situation is much more
favourable, it is possible that
local authorities may decide to
change the applicable tax regime,”
Madureira suggests. “However,
there are several other priorities to
cover so one is not that sure when
and if the current situation will
Portugal: The challenges and potential in one of Europe’s most controversial markets
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