Betting shops in Europe

The number of European bookmakers has increased dramatically in recent years. Many few betting sites have come to the market and established firms have grown exponentially.  The European betting market is very competitive and so bookmakers will offer people great chances to earn an edge with free bets and promotions.

The outlook of betting shops in Europe has changed a lot, especially since the gambling through the internet was regulated. In consequence, the possibilities of betting have boost greatly within the amateurs. In this way, betting shops are complemented by betting platforms online. Additionally, nowadays every betting platform is adapted to work perfectly in mobile phones and this has made that betting plays rocketed in the continent.

The betting market online makes every year millions of euros in Spain. According to the annual report that makes the “Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego”, only in 2007, taking into account the money made by the casinos and online bets, it was around 560 million of euros. This number indicates an increase of 30% with respect to the previous year.

In total, sport bets were more that the 55% of the number mentioned above. Casino’s games occupy the second place with a 30% of the total and followed by poker, bingo and game shows, with a percentage much smaller. In this way, it is demonstrated that sport bets lead the online betting market in Spain.

A new law that regulates and licenses bookmakers in Spain came into effect in 2012. Since then, over 70 operators have been licensed, and online sports betting and gambling is completely legal in the country. Betting gain in excess of 2.500€ are taxable at 20%. Unlike many other countries across Europe, Spain does not have a big tradition of gambling. Compared to countries like the UK and Italy, the amount of people who take part in online sports betting is low. However, Spain is a very passionate sporting nation and has produced international stars in many high-profile sports. Football is especially fruitful for Spain as they boast arguably the world’s top 2 teams, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

Betting evolution seem to be at its peak and one of the latest new at a European level is the publication of the online betting regime in Portugal, where the illegality of this activity ends in 2015.

A decision was finally forced when the Troika – the EU Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – insisted that legislation should be introduced to assist in Portugal’s payback. As of July 2014, the Portuguese parliament has approved these new laws, which will license operators in a similar way to France, Spain and Italy, enforcing strict controls in a national market. Presently, the country is in the middle of a 180-day timeframe for the proposed regulator to set up and outline their process.

Online sports betting in Portugal kicked into gear in May 2016 when the government launched a regulated market for online gambling. Unsurprisingly, the Portuguese love betting on football and this dominates over three-quarters of all sports betting turnover. Basketball and tennis are also popular options, but these pale in comparison to the market leader.

Gambling in Portugal is split into 3 different legal categories: raffles, casino and lotteries & sports betting. While raffles have limited financial implications for the state – the rest are all run via a monopoly under license from the government. All sports betting activity in Portugal has been run exclusively by the Santa Casa de Misericordia de Lisboa (SCML), since 1961, who primarily use the profits generated to fund social programs to help the elderly and children in the Lisbon area.

Currently sports betting winnings are not taxable in Portugal.

The growth of this type of activity shows that people is investing a lot of money in games of chance and it can lead and indeed led in great occasions in addition to gambling. This is a terrible problem from my point of view as addicted people waste their and their family and friend’s money in an unhealthy activity. Also, people of no legal age are participating in this kind of activity and it should be more restricted as they are too young to invest money or participate in bets.

Furthermore, TV advertisements related to this topic are becoming more frequent and the ones that appear in those ads are famous or well-known actors, players or TV hosts and I do not think that gambling and casinos are something to make ads about given their relation to addiction and bankruptcy.

Alicia Muñoz Fernández

[artigo de opinião produzido no âmbito da unidade curricular “Economia Portuguesa e Europeia” do 3º ano do curso de Economia (1º ciclo) da EEG/UMinho]