Online Gaming in Portugal

Online gambling is legal and regulated in Portugal under the Gambling Regulation and Online Gambling Act of 2015. Operators must obtain a license from the SRIJ to offer online gambling services to Portuguese residents. The regulation covers various forms of online gambling, including online casinos, poker, and sports betting.

In February 2015, Portugal's Council of Ministers passed a bill to regulate the country's online gaming market. The government planned to license and tax a broad spectrum of online gaming products, including casino games, sports betting, poker and race wagering. The bill was signed by the President in April 2015.

Currently, online casino and bingo are taxed at a flat 25% of GGR, while fixed-odds sports betting is taxed on stakes (turnover) at 8–16%, with effective rates around 12%; reforms periodically discussed include moving sports betting to a pure GGR basis. Portugal’s first online license was actually issued in May 2016; since then more than 15 operators have entered the market, though high taxes led some early brands to stay away or delay entry.

Before this bill, Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML), Portugal's national lottery, was the only entity allowed to offer its lottery products, including sports betting, to the public via the internet under a 2003 decree. All other domestic and foreign operators were restricted from offering their services. The government had previously ordered Portuguese ISPs to block traffic from major foreign gambling sites. The ban was difficult to enforce, however, and many online gaming sites have offered their services in the Portuguese language.

Between 2005 and 2008, online betting operator bwin had a sponsorship deal with the Portuguese football league, and the first division was rebranded "bwin LIGA." Portuguese authorities fined bwin and the football league for infringing on the 2003 decree. The matter was taken to court in Portugal, and the issue was referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to determine if it conformed to European Commission law. The ECJ ruled that EU member states can restrict services from businesses from other member states with the aim of protecting consumers from fraud and crime.

In 2017, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal signed an agreement that allowed shared player pools for online poker. Portugal later joined the shared liquidity pool for online poker, which boosted poker revenues temporarily, though the vertical still remains a relatively small part of the market.

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