🇵🇹Portugal gambling regulation

Legal framework at a glance

Portugal regulates online gambling under the Legal Regime for Online Gambling and Betting (Regime Jurídico dos Jogos e Apostas Online, RJO), approved by Decree-Law No. 66/2015. The regime opened online casino games, poker and fixed-odds sports betting to licensed private operators, while state lottery games and certain mutual betting remain reserved to Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa. Land-based casinos operate under concessions in designated gaming zones.

Product	Online status	Notes
Casino games	Licensed	Slots, table games, live casino
Poker	Licensed	Peer-to-peer poker
Sports betting	Licensed	Fixed-odds betting
Lottery	Monopoly	Santa Casa exclusive rights

The regulator

The Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) sits within Turismo de Portugal, the national tourism authority. It issues and supervises licences, approves games and betting types, monitors operators through technical systems, collects data on the market and publishes quarterly statistics. It also runs the self-exclusion system and handles complaints from players.

Licensing

Online licences are issued separately for games of chance and for sports betting. Applicants must show financial capacity, suitable owners and managers, certified technical systems and the responsible-gambling and anti-money-laundering controls set out in SRIJ regulations. Licensed sites use the .pt domain and display the SRIJ seal. The regulator publishes a public list of licensed entities, which is the definitive check. Our guide to checking whether a gambling site is licensed explains the wider principles.

Online products — what is and isn’t legal

Licensed operators may offer online slots, table games, poker and fixed-odds betting. Anything provided by an operator without an SRIJ licence is illegal, and SRIJ notifies internet service providers to block such sites. Players on unlicensed sites lose access to Portuguese consumer protection and complaint routes.

Taxation

Licensed operators pay the special online gambling tax (Imposto Especial de Jogo Online, IEJO), calculated on gross gaming revenue (bets minus prizes). Rates are progressive: between 8% and 16% for fixed-odds sports betting, and between 15% and 30% for casino games and poker. Sports betting was originally taxed on turnover, but the base moved to gross revenue in 2020. Players on licensed sites do not pay tax on winnings. Part of IEJO revenue funds addiction prevention through ICAD. For comparisons, see gambling taxation compared.

Advertising and marketing rules

Licensed operators may advertise, subject to the Advertising Code and SRIJ rules. Advertising must not target or feature minors, must not suggest gambling solves financial or social problems and must carry responsible-gambling messaging. Restrictions apply around schools and in programming or content aimed at young people. See gambling advertising rules for the European context.

Player-protection requirements

Operators must:

• verify age and identity during registration, including tax number checks;
• offer deposit and other self-limits that players can set on their account;
• display time and activity information and responsible-gambling links;
• block self-excluded players and stop marketing to them;
• keep player funds identifiable and report suspicious activity under anti-money-laundering law.

Self-exclusion

Self-exclusion lasts at least three months and can be set for longer or left open-ended. Since April 2026 one SRIJ form reaches every licensed online operator. Our Portugal self-exclusion manual walks through the process.

Enforcement against unlicensed operators

SRIJ issues blocking notifications to internet service providers and has issued thousands of notices to illegal operators since the market opened. Mirror sites remain a problem, so blocking is not airtight. For how these tools work across Europe, see payment blocking and ISP blocking.

What this means for players

For someone in Portugal, the practical test is simple: a legal site uses a .pt address and displays the SRIJ seal, and the operator appears on SRIJ’s public list. That matters because only licensed operators are bound by Portuguese rules on identity checks, limits, self-exclusion and complaints. A few further points are worth knowing:

• Winnings: there is no player tax on winnings from licensed sites, because the operator pays IEJO instead. Winnings from unlicensed sites do not benefit from that treatment.
• Accounts: registration requires your tax number (NIF), which is how operators match you against the self-exclusion data.
• Complaints: raise a problem with the operator first, keep records, and escalate to SRIJ if it is not resolved. Our guide on how to file a complaint against a gambling operator explains how to build a clear case.
• Limits: deposit limits are one of the most effective tools available; see setting deposit, loss and time limits.
• Land-based play: casinos and bingo halls fall outside the online self-exclusion form, so anyone who gambles in venues needs to arrange a separate ban.

If gambling is affecting your finances, a free debt-advice service or your bank can help you put blocks in place before debts grow. Combining a bank gambling block with self-exclusion closes off the most common routes back to gambling, including unlicensed sites.

Recent developments and what to watch

• Central self-exclusion: the April 2026 SRIJ form has made exclusion simpler; early 2026 data showed self-exclusions rising.
• Market growth: online revenue continued to rise through 2025, with casino games gaining share.
• Advertising and sponsorship: periodic political pressure to tighten rules, especially around football.
• Black market: SRIJ continues to report illegal operators to ISPs, but domain hopping limits impact.

For free support services, see our Portugal help directory. This page is general information, not legal advice.