Portuguese Online Gambling Faces Tough Restrictions

Portugal has stepped up its recent reactions to the global health scenario that has had such a radical and far reaching impact on not only its local population but the global market as well.

Portugal has begun a wide and somewhat ruthless sweep of its services and infrastructure in order to best serve and protect its residents. This has included regulation for no-fault cancellations of services, limiting internet and radio wave usage giving priority to public health services and setting in place limitations for online gambling.

Protecting The People

National gambling saw a marked increase of more than 52% from 2018 into 2019, with Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) reporting reviews in excess of €65 million.

With the recent approval of online gambling in Portugal and continued growth, the market has seen local lawmakers and health groups has expressed their concerns over how this the present crisis opens at-risk groups to the dangers of rash, illogical and financially harmful gambling decisions.

Gambling Bill 326

Considering the financial wellbeing of its constituents and expert concern over the reported increase in online gambling and betting in the past few months has been the driving force behind the approval of Bill 326.

Submitted by environmentalist Partido das Pessoas, dos Animais e da Natureza (PAN), the bill did not determine specific actions and levels of restrictions rather allowing for either partial or full limitation of online gambling.

This lack of clarity is the main concern as it allows for the Portuguese regulator, SRIJ, to unilaterally apply any level of suppression on the industry at any time during the current health crisis.