Luckia, which closed last year with a turnover of 506 million euros, continues its expansion process. The Portuguese market offers proximity and the possibility of gaining presence abroad, although the economic expectations in the neighboring country are limited.
"Our goal is to be present and to grow in size, we do not have much ambition in Portugal because it is a modest country, with a reduced critical mass, but undoubtedly closeness for us is important," explains company president José González Fuentes.
The head of Luckia adds that the tax rate of gambling in Portugal is "very high", so "profitability is not easy." "Undoubtedly, Portugal can be a preliminary step, a test or a good trampoline once gaming is regulated in Brazil, although it will depend a lot on how it is done", adds González Fuentes in an interview with Yogonet.
For the moment, Luckia's activity in Portugal will be limited to online gaming, a modality that the Portuguese government recently regulated. The company rules out installing casinos or gambling halls there considering it difficult and unattractive for their business.
"Portugal has a very limited regulation of casinos and it is not an easy market, it has an old legislation, there are not many casinos and, with the exception of Chaves, they all come from a long time ago. In addition there are very powerful Portuguese groups. It is a difficult country, although we would be interested in proximity and language, "argues José González.
The former Egasa is also in the process of entering the online channel in Nigeria - with a population of almost 190 million people and strong growth expectations - Peru, which will approve new legislation this year, Italy and Malta. From this Mediterranean island, they foresee offering games to third countries, such as Germany, which allows for the possibility of paying the corresponding taxes; while Spanish legislation prevents this possibility from the national territory.
The Galician giant of the gaming sector is also advancing in the development of its own digital online platform, so as not to depend on external suppliers and to move quickly in adapting to the different markets to which they are expanding.
In Spain, Luckia registered a growth of 22% last year over the amounts played online and 30% in terms of gross revenues. The company considers "recovered" the demand of the sector, "very affected during the crisis" and currently has around 2,500 employees. According to its own forecast, world spending in the gaming sector, currently 430,000 million euros, will grow by 8% until 2021.
Source: GMB
