Betclic secures first Portuguese sports betting licence

Betclic Everest Group has gone live in the Portuguese online gambling market after becoming the first operator to secure one of the country’s new sports betting licences.

The Paris-headquartered firm launched in Portugal yesterday (25 May) under its flagship Betclic brand having officially obtained its fixed-odds sports betting licence earlier that morning.

As the first operator to go live, Betclic will be subject to a basic tax rate of 8% on turnover up to ?30m, while turnover over that figure will be taxed based on a formula (Rate=[8% x (annual gross revenue/?30m)] /100) and capped at 16%.

Betclic Everest CEO, Isabelle Andres (pictured), said she was pleased the operator had launched in a country which she believes has a “strong reputation” among punters.

“As the leader of online sports betting in France, we approach this market with determination and ambition,” Andres told EGR.

“With this opening of a regulated market, we are determined to settle within the leading operators in Portugal. Our launch will be supported by the dynamics of Euro [2016] in France.”

Andres also said the operator was “working hard” to obtain an online casino licence in the near future and a number of other operators were also close to securing a sports betting licence.

Earlier this year Amaya said it planned to re-enter the Portuguese online gambling market by the end of the third quarter with poker, casino and sportsbook products, pending licence approval.