Portugal

Portugal regulates online gambling under the Regime Jurídico do Jogo Online (Decree-Law No. 66/2015), administered by SRIJ within Turismo de Portugal. Licensed verticals are strictly limited to fixed-odds sports betting, online casino games, and horse-race betting (fixed-odds and pari-mutuel); licences run three years and require a €500,000 guarantee, with sports and horse betting taxed on turnover.

In 2026 the regulator launched a centralised market-wide self-exclusion portal (8 April 2026) and opened a consultation proposing to formally recognise bet-builder and cash-out mechanics. Enforcement is robust, with well over 100 ISP site blocks across 2025. Prediction markets are firmly outside the legal framework — in January 2026 SRIJ ordered Polymarket blocked within 48 hours after a surge of presidential-election betting, and Kalshi exited the market.

The minimum legal gambling age is 18.

Online gambling in Portugal has settled into a licensed regime supervised by the SRIJ, and on this page I’ll provide a brief overview of the recent history and how the market got here. There are both positive and negative aspects to recent changes that will ultimate determine if Portugal becomes a major player in the global gambling market.

Most forms of gambling are legal in Portugal. The country has 12 land-based casinos and a licensed online market for sports betting and casino games, with horse-race betting permitted under the same online regime. Before 2015, the market was closed to foreign operators in favor of a government-supported monopoly.

Gaming legislation enacted in 2015 opened the market to international betting brands, but high taxes and excessive regulation have so far put a damper on any excitement we once held that Portugal would finally embrace the reality of online gambling. To date, SRIJ has licensed a range of gaming companies to offer online betting and casino games in Portugal, and publishes the register of every licensed entity with its website and the licences it holds.

In Portugal only entities licensed by the SRIJ are authorised to offer online games and betting, and any site reachable from Portugal that offers them without the necessary licence is acting illegally. Deposit methods in common use at the licensed sites include Multibanco, PayPal, credit card, Neteller and electronic bank transfer.

Portugal Betting Sites

Portugal finally got around to issuing its first online gambling license to Betclic.pt in May 2016. More licenses eventually followed, but Betclic was the first site authorized by the government to accept real money wagers from Portuguese citizens. Other companies/sites that received licenses include CasinoPortugal.pt and the Betclic Everest Group.

Previously, unlicensed operators had free reign to advertise their wares in Portugal. The Portuguese government now prohibits such advertising and even orders internet service providers to censor the internet to block access to these sites.

The Portuguese market has proven promising with significant revenues generated by the industry despite its young age and limited number of operators. However, high tax rates have severely limited the market, dissuaded operators from acquiring licenses and hurt competition.

The tax rates in Portugal are set at nearly unmanageable levels:

• 15 to 30% on gross gaming revenue for casino games, poker and bingo

• 8 to 16% on total betting turnover for sports betting

If this tax scheme applied to net profits, it would be one thing. That is not the case in Portugal. These rates are based on total gaming activity before operating expenses or net profits are even considered. It’s so bad that a handful of international gaming brands declared immediately that they had zero interest in applying for a gaming license in Portugal.

Year-end reports from 2016 showed that online gambling generated €82 million in gross revenue for the year, but nearly half that (€40 million) went straight to taxes. Local gambling groups have petitioned the government to lower the tax rate so the market can see its true potential and attract additional licensees. More competition among Portuguese bookmakers will be a good thing for players as well.

However, the industry has grown despite these issues. Portugal had issued eleven online gambling licences by September 2017, seven of them to online casinos and four to sports betting sites; SRIJ's register of licensed entities lists every licensed operator with its website and the licences it holds, across fixed-odds sports betting, games of fortune or chance, poker and bingo.

Portugal Gambling Laws

Citizens of Portugal have access to most forms of gambling but the government strictly regulates who may offer what. There are 12 land-based casinos and one slot-machine hall operating in Portugal, spread across ten licensed gaming zones, and they offer all the staple games you would expect to find in a casino.

Things look good from a distance, but the government maintains a tight grip over the industry. Each casino in the country had to be specially approved while all other forms of gambling are subject to a state-owned monopoly provider that we all know as the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML). The SCML is a government-controlled monopoly provider of the lottery and of pool-based sports betting, while the regulator of casino and online gambling is the SRIJ. Santa Casa also offers online betting of its own, through its website located here.

SCML takes a unique approach to sports betting. Rather than offering the odds like a traditional bookmaker, SCML operates in the parimutuel fashion in which the payouts are determined by the betting action of all the people betting on an event. SCML does not create the odds; it facilitates wagers between the people.

Outside a licensed casino, casino games and poker may be offered only online, and only by an operator the SRIJ has licensed: in Portugal, offering online games and betting requires a licence granted by the SRIJ. The SCML on the other hand has thousands of ticket sellers spread across the country. Any time you’re in Portugal, you’re never far from an SCML lottery or sports ticket.

The Portuguese system worked well in the past, but the internet has changed everything. For years, Portugal has tried to fight the internet and protect its monopoly. The country blocked access to foreign sites and granted no gaming company the right to offer its services over the internet. That ended with the Regime Jurídico dos Jogos e Apostas Online, approved by Decree-Law No. 66/2015 of 29 April: only entities licensed by the SRIJ may now offer online games and betting in Portugal, and the regulator publishes the register of every licensed entity.

If the government had its way, gambling in Portugal would be done only at land-based casinos and with the SCML monopoly. Unfortunately for the government, prohibitions are notoriously difficult to enforce. Pressure from the EU has also prompted lawmakers to reconsider their stance on allowing Portugal gambling sites to operate.

Finally in June of 2014, the Portuguese government announced legislation that would allow for the licensing of foreign operators seeking access to the market. The regulations include licensing conditions, an explanation of taxes and other rules for the market. That gave big-name betting sites the opportunity to obtain a licence.

The laws took effect in 2015 and many in the industry were disappointed to see high taxes and excessive regulation. Sports betting in Portugal will be particularly hard-hit with rates while the government-controlled monopoly will pay as little as half as much in taxes.

The disparity between what online betting sites will pay and what the government-controlled monopoly will pay will likely draw the ire of foreign operators and the EU. The EU has already ruled numerous times against other nations that have tried to sneak in protectionist measures to benefit their state-held monopolies.

Foreign operators do still try to reach Portuguese bettors, and the SRIJ's position on them is unambiguous: every operator with a website reachable from Portugal that offers online games and betting without the necessary licence is acting illegally and carrying on an unlawful activity. The regulator notifies ISPs to block illegal operators' sites and refers cases to the public prosecutor, and a player who uses one is exposed to an administrative fine of €2,500 to €25,000 in the online sector, with none of the protections a licensed operator is obliged to provide.

Portuguese regulatory body Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) issued its first online betting license to the Betclic Everest Group on 25 May, 2016. Betclic now holds licence 001 for fixed-odds sports betting and licence 004 for games of fortune or chance, so its authorisation is no longer limited to sports bets.

There are still issues of punitive tax rates to work through, but at least the Portuguese market appears to be taking a turn towards regulation and open competition after so many years of government-enforced SCML dominance.

Online Poker in Portugal

The online poker industry has been slow to develop in Portugal compared to casino gaming and sports betting. PokerStars became the first site to be licensed to offer real money online poker in Portugal in November of 2016. PokerStars.pt grew quickly, but it is no longer the only licensed poker site in Portugal.

SRIJ has since approved poker for additional operators. PokerStars holds licence 005, covering tournament poker, Hold'em, Omaha, blackjack and French roulette; 888 holds licence 016, which also covers poker, and ESCOnline's licence 003 was extended to poker by averbamento.