Portugal’s Secretary of State for Tourism, Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, has confirmed that the country will launch a legalised online gaming market on June 28.
As reported by iGaming Business, the country’s Council of Ministers in March approved a bill to establish a legal framework for online gaming, shortly before President Aníbal Cavaco Silva also signed off the new bill.
The launch, which comes after a more than a decade of discussions, will enable players inside and outside of the country to access Portuguese gaming sites.
National regulator Santa Casa de Misericordia de Lisboa will oversee the licence awarding process and acquire a number of other responsibilities under the new structure.
Both national and international operators will be able to apply for licences in a move that regulators in the country hope will raise an additional €25 million ($27.7 million) in tax revenue.
Licences will run for a three-year periods while all operators applying must show that they are reputable and will have to submit financial guarantees before they are able to launch websites.
Licences will be made available for casino games, sports betting, horse racing, poker and bingo.
Operators of online games will face a taxation rate of between 15% and 30% while those offering sports betting services will pay turnover tax of between 8% and 16%.
All operators must also have representation in Portugal, use a .pt domain and send financial transactions through a Portuguese bank account.
In addition, the bill sets out procedures to combat illegal online gaming, such as the ability to block websites.
“We are preparing everything so that on June 28 the technical control structure is operating,” Nunes said in a press conference.
“We want to sign up as many operators as possible, particularly international operators.”
source : www.igamingbusiness.com
