Portuguese online casinos for Real Money

Portugal’s very first gambling law goes back to 2016. Known as Decree-Law 422/89, the Legal Regime for the Operation of Games of Chance in Casinos bill stated that the Portuguese National Lottery had a monopoly on gambling games, with Casino Estoril being the very first venue to offer gambling games. Of course, things are a little different nowadays.

Games of chance are legal in Portugal in brick-and-mortar venues. However, they are restricted to ten locations, ranging from the Azores to the Algarve, Estoril, and Porto Santo to Funchal and beyond. Lottery games are now the monopoly of Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Lisboa, or the SCML, for short. However, there don’t appear to be as many limitations when it comes to brick-and-mortar casinos.

What about online gambling, then? While online lotto games became legal in 2000, it wasn’t until 2015 that online casino games were legalised. Law 66/2015 makes it clear that any operator can apply for a license to offer their services to Portuguese players. However, the high tax rates often see providers look elsewhere. Almost half of the Portuguese players turn to offshore casinos, and they are allowed to do so (technically). Let’s look more at that in the next section.

It is the Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal, or SRIJ, that has jurisdiction over licensing and regulation in Portugal. This authority approves online and land-based gambling licenses. Any operator can theoretically apply for a license. However, as mentioned, high taxes tend to put some providers off.

As many as half the population tend to play at offshore casinos. The Portuguese authorities cannot punish players for doing this. However, the gambling authorities aren’t totally powerless. They do have the authority to demand that ISPs (internet service providers) block access to foreign sites. There aren’t a great number of them on Portugal’s blacklist, but that remains an option if they wish to take it.

Portuguese players must be aged 18 or older and based in Portugal to play any licensed gambling games in the country. Some offshore casinos (which, as mentioned, are open to Portuguese players) may require you to be 20 or even 21, but this is rare.

Portuguese players don’t really have a preference when it comes to betting online. There are those who are quite happy to throw down on sports bets, while you will also find a good number of players who don’t mind betting on slots, table games, poker and, of course, lottery games. In fact, lotto games are notably popular in Portugal, as is bingo. Moreover, thanks to a large population of Brazilian gamblers overseas a good number of live dealer games can also be played in Portuguese.

We haven’t come across any major software providers that come from Portugal. However, you needn’t worry about that if you want to bet online. Both Portuguese online casinos and offshore casino sites tend to feature largely the same providers – a decent array of major and top-tier game developers found at most other sites. Portugal uses the euro currency, so you should have no difficulty wagering on any of these games.

Portuguese casinos are supposed to be reserved for Portuguese players. At least, the ones that are licensed out of Portugal are. However, not all the Portuguese sites we’ve come across stick to this. These are exactly the types of casinos and sportsbooks that will support the Portuguese language and euro currency. They will also offer live dealer games that can be played in Portuguese.

To be fair, you can also come across Portuguese offered as a language at many top sites, predominantly because of a large Brazilian audience. The use of the euro is made easy at offshore casinos because so many other countries use the currency. Offshore sites catering to Portuguese players are technically open to anyone, though. You don’t have to reside in Portugal or be a national to play there.