Portuguese Parliament Approves Online Gambling Legalisation

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Aug 1, 2014

Regulator has another 180 days to get regulation up and running… and EC approval is still awaited

Portugal's bid to liberalise and regulate its online gambling market moved another important pace forward this week with the news that the national parliament has approved the empowering legislation, which gives the proposed regulator (see previous InfoPowa reports) 180 days to set up shop and frame the regulations and tax and licensing process.
The European Commission's approval of the final legislation is also awaited, but Portuguese sources say this should be a formality.
The new legislation largely does away with the monopoly enjoyed by the national lottery Santa Casa da Misericordia, and observers expect the tax burdens to be significant for operators in the Portuguese market.
There have been predictions that online sports betting operators could face up to 16 percent taxation on GGR, with casino gaming licensees hammered even heavier at up to 30 percent.
The Remote Gaming Association, a European trade body that represents the interests of online gambling operators, has already been critical of proposed Portuguese tax rates, warning that the rates being bruited about would make the market untenable for operators, and that special tax rates for the retained retail sports betting activities of Santa Casa da Misericórdia are unfair (see previous InfoPowa reports).

Online Casino News Courtesy of Infopowa

Brian Cullingworth

Infopowa news was a staple of Casinomeister’s news from 2000 until 2019. Brian Cullingworth was the main writer, contributor, and was one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever known involved in the online casino industry.

We first met in January 2001 at the ICE in London where I observed him going booth to booth interviewing online casino, software, and licensing jurisdiction representatives. Brian was also heavily involved with our forum as “Jetset“, he was involved as an informal consultant to eCOGRA, the OPA, and was a player advocate who assisted countless aggrieved players with his connections to industry folks. He also published “Casino Cautions” via Infopowa news for quite a number of years. These can be found in our news archives.

His passing in February 2019 was a dark day for us. He will be forever missed.


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