Portuguese Online Casinos

Portugal Online Casinos

Portugal has an inconsistent relationship with gambling. The Portuguese love to gamble and although the country is mostly populated by Roman Catholics, most people do not practice which is another contributing factor to the popularity of gambling.

The Portuguese government has many laws to do with gambling such as dividing the country into gambling zones and only allowing one casinos per gambling zone, but it is not allowed to advertise casinos gambling in the country.

In addition all gambling is state-controlled and only local companies are granted gambling licenses to operate lottery, bingo, casino and horse racing. All gambling activity is governed by the Games Department of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML) and Inspecção General de Jogos, and although it is in violation of EU laws, the monopoly stays intact.

Casinos can be operated by any local company that is granted a license by the state. These licenses are very difficult to get and so far only 10 have been issued.

The monopoly enjoyed by the SCML is extended to internet gambling and the government encourages internet service providers in the country to block access to foreign online casinos. The EU is pressing strongly for the Portuguese government to change its laws which are in strict violation of EU laws but at the moment there doesn't seem to be any progress towards change.

However, there are no laws that criminalize individual Portuguese online casino players and many players still find a way of playing online casino games with big foreign online casinos.