Portugal is a beautiful sunny country located in southwestern Europe. It is a place where breathtaking pristine nature serenely coexists with a highly developed tourist infrastructure. Portugal considered as one of the most peaceful, morally freedom, and happy nation in the world with myriads and other attractions. No wonder why over 12 millions of foreign tourists visit it every year!
Portugal looks like a great location for gamblers since it allows both visitors and residents of the country to play casino games. The Portuguese government just started regulating the online gambling market that has been untouched for decades. Nowadays, every online casino located in Portugal needs to have an official license. Traditional casinos are also legal and you can find them in almost every city.
If you are a gambling enthusiast and would like to know more about the casino industry of Portugal, you have come to the right place. On this page, we will tell you everything you have to know about the online and offline gambling in Portugal. You will also find a list of popular casinos available in this country and software developers whose games you can try here. Let us begin!
As we have mentioned earlier, Portugal is the country where nearly all kinds of gambling are considered legal. To comply with existing laws, casinos need to receive two licenses. The first one is issued by the gambling authority, which confirms that the casino is trustworthy and fair. The second one allows the gambling establishment to operate on the territory of the country — it can be obtained from the government.
As for now, there is no punishment for players who make bets or play for real money in the unlicensed casinos. It means that you can skip all the information about the local license and choose any casino you want. Nevertheless, you should not forget to check the casino website for the international license to make sure that you will be able to receive your possible winnings.
The only organization that has a right to organize social games of which the state benefits directly is the so-called Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa Games Department (experienced people know it under the abbreviation SCML). It can organize the following types of games:
On the other hand, horse racing activities and organization of events are excluded from the rights of SCML.
Other games in Portugal such as bingo, horse racing and other games are also permitted, but they are operating in the country only in case of an inked contract. Most of the contracts long and take a period of two or even three decades long. The game is usually restricted to a certain area of the country thanks to these contracts.
Any resident or visitor of the country can gamble and make bets online on the territory of Portugal. The main gambling law is the Online Gambling and Betting Legal Regime, or OLR. It defines the terms and conditions for the operation of online gambling platforms on the territory of Portugal. According to it, licenses for the operation of online casinos and sports betting website are granted for a three-year period.
Since the beginning of 2015, Portugal has introduced a couple of new laws that were checked for fairness. After that, the Portuguese Council of Ministers approved online gambling and online casino games as a legal framework.
The updated legislation of Portugal is highly related to online gambling, which previously contained a huge amount of legal problems. Now it entirely focused on the protection of public interests. The rest of regulations also aim at the prevention of swindles and money laundering, as well as the practice of crimes associated with other online gambling activities.
The government of Portugal seems to not care about foreign gambling websites. It regulates online casinos hosted within the country, but this is not applied to all the rest platforms available on the Internet. Therefore, you can choose nearly any online casino you want. Nevertheless, make sure that it supports players from Portugal if you do not want to have troubles with money withdrawal.
The vast majority of popular software providers known to every experienced gambler are presented in this country. Here are some of the game developers:
As to casino websites themselves, there are more than enough platforms that service people from Portugal. Here are the most reliable online casinos that can be accessed in this region:
There are many more websites that accept players from Portugal and their number is only getting bigger. We recommend you to check your favorite online casinos. With a high probability, they may be available in Portugal.
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