The Portuguese Council of Ministers has approved draft legislation to enable the country to begin working on a regulatory framework for the potential introduction of legalised online gambling in the European nation.
The new legislation will allow the Portuguese government to investigate different methods of betting and gaming regulation in order to the country’s current laws to cover internet betting and gaming.
In a statement, the Portuguese government said the legislation would help to ensure that laws are in line with the existing European framework for best practices.
The statement read: “This initiative is crucial to combat illegal gambling, enabler of fraudulent activities and activities possibly associated with money laundering, while allowing the development of social policies through a balanced distribution of gambling revenues, to compensate the social cost.”
The government said that the legislation will cover a range of both online and terrestrial games in order to effectively combat illicit gambling.
Gambling formats intended to be covered by the framework include casino games, poker, gaming machines, bingo, sports betting and horserace betting.
Portugal’s government also suggested that a new form of taxation be introduced to cover the games.
This could include the creation of a homogenous framework and the establishment of online gaming duty in order to safeguard the regulated games.
In addition, the government said that the new regulatory framework should also include ‘solid and effective’ sanctions to prevent illicit acts and ensure players face ‘healthy’ competition when gambling.
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
