Online gambling in Portugal: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Portugal?

The Regime Jurídico dos Jogos e Apostas Online (RJO), approved by Decree-Law 66/2015 of 29 April, lets the Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) license operators per game type: fixed-odds sports betting, horse race betting, bingo and games of chance including slots, roulette, blackjack and poker. Licences run three years and are renewable. On 30 June 2026, 17 entities held 30 licences. The special online gambling tax (IEJO) is charged at 8% of stakes on fixed-odds sports betting and 25% of GGR on games of chance, and replaces corporate income tax on that revenue. Regulated online GGR reached €1.206 billion in 2025 and the state collected €353 million in IEJO. Lotteries and pool betting remain with Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa.

Regulated: Private operators can hold a local licence for online casino and/or betting.

Who regulates gambling in Portugal?

• Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (Turismo de Portugal) (SRIJ) — Licenses and inspects online and land-based gambling, homologates technical systems, runs the self-exclusion list, publishes quarterly market statistics and orders blocking of unlicensed sites

Portugal gambling licence: how it works

An applicant must be a private company in the form of a sociedade anónima or equivalent with its seat in an EU or EEA state bound by tax and anti-money-laundering cooperation, and a foreign company must open a branch in Portugal. It applies separately for each licence type: fixed-odds sports betting, horse race betting, bingo, or games of chance (with each new casino game type authorized individually). The SRIJ checks fitness, technical capacity and economic and financial standing, and the gaming system must be certified and homologated before issue. Two guarantees are lodged with the SRIJ: €500,000 for legal obligations including player balances and fines, and €100,000 for the special tax. Licences are valid for an initial three years and can be extended for successive three-year periods on request made 90 days before expiry.

What an applicant needs

• Sociedade anónima or equivalent seated in the EU or EEA, with a Portuguese branch for foreign companies
• Fitness, technical capacity and economic and financial standing, including the financial autonomy ratio
• Certified and homologated technical gaming system with SRIJ data access
• Guarantees of €500,000 (legal obligations) and €100,000 (IEJO)
• Player registration with Portuguese tax number and identity verification; self-exclusion list integration
• Separate application and fees for each licence type and each new game of chance

Gambling taxes in Portugal

• Operators: IEJO: 8% of stakes on fixed-odds sports betting (rising progressively up to 16% on annual stakes above €30 million); 25% of GGR on online casino games and bingo; 25% of stakes on pool horse betting; 35% of commissions on exchange and commission-based games. Revenue subject to IEJO is exempt from corporate income tax and stamp duty.
• Players: None; prizes from RJO-licensed online games are not subject to personal income tax, the operator pays IEJO instead.
• Also: IEJO is shared among the state, the SRIJ, sports federations and clubs and public programs; the 2020 budget replaced the former 15%–30% progressive scale on games of chance with the flat 25% rate.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

Permitted under the Advertising Code and the RJO: no targeting of minors, no association of gambling with social or financial success, mandatory responsible-gaming messaging, and no advertising of unlicensed operators. Sponsorship of sports is common among licensees.

Responsible gaming

Players must set deposit limits at registration, can self-exclude through the SRIJ's central list, and operators must display session information, offer time-outs and monitor risky behavior. Bonuses are permitted but must be transparent and cannot be conditioned in misleading ways.

Identity and age verification

Age 18. Registration requires the Portuguese tax number (NIF) and identity document data, verified against official records before play; one account per player per operator.

Payments

MB Way, Multibanco references, cards, bank transfer and e-wallets through regulated payment institutions; deposits must come from instruments in the player's name and licensed operators do not accept cryptoassets. The SRIJ notifies ISPs to block unlicensed sites each quarter.

Notable restrictions

• Lotteries, Euromillions and pool betting reserved to Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa
• Separate licence for each game type; each new casino game needs authorization
• Sports betting taxed on stakes, not GGR
• Portuguese branch and Portuguese-language offer required
• Unlicensed sites blocked through ISP notifications

Portugal iGaming market: size, players and payments

SRIJ data: online GGR of €1.206 billion in 2025, of which games of chance €759 million (+11.9%) and fixed-odds sports betting €447 million (+3.2%); IEJO collected reached a record €353 million. In the second quarter of 2026 GGR was €328.2 million (+14.4% year on year) with games of chance at 61.9% of the total.

The industry association APAJO estimates that a large share of Portuguese bettors still use unlicensed sites and has called for stronger enforcement; the SRIJ publishes registered-player counts in its quarterly reports.

Portuguese online play is mobile-led and MB Way has become the default deposit method.

Seventeen licensed entities in mid-2026, including Betclic, Betano, Solverde, ESC Online (Estoril Sol), Placard (Santa Casa), Bwin, Betway and Casino Portugal; slots-led casino brands drive the fastest growth.

Timeline: how Portugal got here

1. 2015-04Decree-Law 66/2015 approves the RJO and empowers the SRIJ to license online gambling
2. 2016-05First online licence issued; regulated market opens
3. 2020Budget law replaces the progressive 15%–30% games-of-chance tax with a flat 25% of GGR
4. 2024Online GGR passes €1 billion for the first time
5. 2026-02SRIJ reports 2025 GGR of €1.206 billion and record IEJO of €353 million
6. 2026-08SRIJ second-quarter 2026 report: 17 operators, 30 licences, GGR up 14.4%

Outlook

Growth in the regulated market slowed in 2025 but re-accelerated in the first half of 2026, led by casino games. The industry is lobbying for a shift of sports betting taxation from stakes to GGR and for tougher action on unlicensed operators; no legislative change was scheduled as of September 2026. Expect continued quarterly blocking rounds and incremental SRIJ rules on advertising and player protection.

Launching in Portugal with GameBridge

Turnkey (your licence, our platform). SRIJ licences are held by the operator's Portuguese-branch company, so a Portuguese brand runs on GameBridge under the operator's own licences; GameBridge holds no Portuguese licence.

A Portuguese deployment uses European Portuguese as the site language, a euro wallet and MB Way, Multibanco and card rails on request, with geo-controls that admit residents after NIF and identity verification. The compliance layer covers deposit limits at registration, self-exclusion list checks, session information and SRIJ reporting feeds, and the sportsbook module reports stakes for the turnover-based tax. Every GameBridge Studios and Originals version ships with the documentation needed for homologation of new game types.

• European Portuguese site language and euro wallet
• MB Way and Multibanco rails on request
• NIF-based registration checks and self-exclusion list lookup
• Deposit limits at registration and session reality checks
• Stake-level reporting for the sports betting turnover tax
• Certification package for homologation of new game types

Portuguese lobbies are slot-led with strong live casino and football betting; the aggregated catalog is curated to studios with homologated versions, GameBridge Studios exclusives ship with the certification package and the sportsbook module covers the Primeira Liga and European competitions.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• Licenças — Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos, accessed 2026-09-11
• Cauções, taxas e impostos — Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos, accessed 2026-09-11
• Estatísticas do jogo online – 2º trimestre 2026 — Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos, accessed 2026-09-11
• Decreto-Lei n.º 66/2015, de 29 de abril (consolidado) — Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos, accessed 2026-09-11
• Jogo Online: receitas desaceleram em 2025 mas deixam 353 milhões nos cofres do Estado — Jornal Económico, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.