Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos

The Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) is part of the Instituto do Turismo de Portugal, reports to the Minister of the Economy and has technical and functional autonomy and public authority powers; it is responsible for land-based games of chance, online games and betting. The online regime was approved on 29 April 2015, and the Comissão de Jogos issues its licences: applications are open at any time, licences are uncapped in number and those of other states do not apply in Portugal.

Licences are issued in four lines: fixed-odds sports betting, horse-race betting (pool and fixed odds), bingo and games of chance, namely punto banco baccarat (including Macau), banca francesa, blackjack, slots with three or more reels, tournament poker, non-banked poker (Omaha, Hold'em, synthetic), poker without a draw, American and French roulette and crash games (Saque ou Crash). Only the categories and types on the licence may be offered; new game types are approved by the Comissão de Jogos and entered on the licence after certification and homologation of the system. Sports and horse-race bets are taken on the sports, competitions and races on the SRIJ list, and sports bets only on events within the licence term.

A licence runs for 3 years from issue and is renewed for equal periods on a request filed 90 days before expiry, with taxes and contributions settled and the fee paid; without renewal it lapses. Fees are indexed every 1 March to the consumer price index from the 2015 amounts (initial homologation was then €18,000 plus €2,000); since 1 March 2026 issue or renewal costs €14,481.10 for sports betting, horse-race betting or games of chance, bingo €2,413.52, initial homologation €21,721.65 plus €2,413.52 per category or game type, and each new game type and other homologations €2,413.52. The applicant lodges a €500,000 guarantee for its obligations, including player balances (after launch, 60–90% of the average half-year balance), and €100,000 for the special online gaming tax IEJO. The operator pays it, player winnings are untaxed, and income from IEJO activities is not subject to corporate income tax or stamp duty; the SRIJ assesses it monthly for payment by the 15th of the following month. IEJO rates: games of chance 25% of gross revenue, player commissions included; pool horse betting 25% of gross revenue; fixed-odds sports and horse betting 8% of stakes; peer-to-peer betting 35% of the operator's commissions.

Applicants are private companies in public limited form or equivalent from an EU state or an EEA state bound by administrative cooperation on tax and on combating fraud and money laundering; a foreign company needs a branch in Portugal. The company must have gaming in its objects for the licence term, settled taxes and contributions, probity, technical capacity and equity of at least 35% of assets. Applications are filed in Portuguese (foreign documents with a certified translation) at the SRIJ in person or by registered mail. The operator runs a .pt website receiving traffic from Portugal, keeps the entry and registration infrastructure and 10 years of data in the country, pays through an EU bank and names a responsible manager. The system is certified by a laboratory recognised by the Comissão de Jogos (among them GLI, iTech Labs, ECOGRA, BMM, QUINEL M, RiskCherry), homologated by the SRIJ and audited periodically. Licences are issued electronically and entered in the public SRIJ register, which lists Betclic, Bwin, Pokerstars, Betano, 888 and Casino Solverde.