COUNTRY REPORT: PORTUGAL CCA LAW
Portugal, like many other European countries, has a long gambling history to tell. What started off as an overall ban on gambling activities evolved to the enactment by Queen Maria I of the 1783 Royal Decree which allowed the operation of social gambling (the Lottery), a monopoly controlled, to this day, by Santa Casa da Misericórdia. Te Portuguese State relationship with gambling continued to evolve with the creation of gambling zones i.e., territorial concessions for the operation of land- based casinos. But for many years there was not much history regarding online gambling, that was prohibited until very recently, even though the legal loophole was perceived by many as a grey area and an opportunity market.
Te truth, however, is that in Portugal gambling is, by law, a right exclusively granted to the Portuguese State and as such, private entities are only allowed to operate when granted permission to do so by the Portuguese State.
April 2015 was the turning point and marked a new and important chapter in this history with the long-awaited enactment of the legal framework for online gambling and betting approved by Decree-Law no. 66/2015 (RJO). Under this diploma, private entities are allowed to apply for specific permits (under the form of licences) for the operation of both games of chance and fixed-odds sports bets in Portugal. Almost immediately, many Portuguese land- based operators and some international players rushed to apply for those online licenses. Te very first one was issued in May 2016, roughly one year after this new legal framework entered into force.
Fast-forwarding to the present and more than five years since the RJO was enacted, in a country with roughly 10 million habitants one could tell that, with 15 licensed operators and 26 issued licences this is a booming market set to thrive. Yet, while this market is expected to keep expanding in terms of quantity, it is in fact stalling in terms of “quality”.
Te abovementioned Decree-Law that allows the operation of online gambling on the Portuguese jurisdiction foresees a semi-closed list of types of games and bets that may be offered under the licensed regime namely fixed- odds sports bets, Totalizator/paris mutual or fixed-odds horse racing bets (no licence for this betting type was issued so far and there is no approved list of modalities and competitions to allow this specific type of operation), and games of chance if within one of the following types: punto banca/baccarat punto banca Macau, French banque, Blackjack/21, Bingo, Slots, Poker in tournament mode, non-banked poker of the variants “omaha”, “hold’em” and “synthetic poker”, Caribbean stud poker, American roulette and French roulette.
We may call it a semi-closed list because the RJO foresees that any interested party is free to request the Portuguese regulator (SRIJ - Te Gambling Inspection and Regulation Service), to approve and include any new types of games of chance. And even though this is a possibility, it is yet to be achieved by any operator. In fact, no
P122 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
Alcina de Oliveira Senior Associate, CCA Law
Filipe Mayer has been with CCA Law firm since 2005 and a Partner since 2012. His specialised area is in the field of Technologies, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) and he is also responsible for the gaming sector with a focus on online betting and e-sports. Alcina de Oliveira Alves joined CCA in 2013 and is a Senior Associate in the TMT department. She also mainly focuses on online gaming, advertising, consumption, energy and public contracting.
fm@cca.law
aoa@cca.law
www.cca.law
Filipe Mayer Partner, CCA Law
“April 2015 was the turning point and marked a new and important chapter in this
history with the long-awaited enactment of the legal
framework for online gambling and betting approved by Decree-Law no. 66/2015 (RJO). Under this diploma,
private entities are allowed to apply for specific permits
(under the form of licences) for the operation of both games of chance and fixed-odds sports bets in Portugal. ”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218
