Official language: Portuguese
Population: 10,676,910
Currency: Euro (EUR)

Current Exchange Rate
1 GBP = 1.0681 EUR
1 USD = 0.6754 EUR

Casinos in Portugal
All casino gambling in Portugal is regulated by the Inspecção General de Jogos, and the right to operate a casino is given out under license from the government. The casino license application procedure is complicated, and the government is very strict about who they give licenses to, making them hard to get. So far, less than 10 casino licenses have been given out. This means Portugal has fewer than ten brick and mortar casinos.

There are no small gambling halls in Portugal like those found throughout Europe. Slot machines and other gaming machines are illegal outside of a casino environment. All machine and table gambling in the country must take place in a casino. These restrictions represent the Portuguese government trying to control when and where gambling takes place.

Online Casinos in Portugal
Online gambling in Portugal is not illegal. There are legally-licensed Portuguese internet casinos. In fact, all online gambling in Portugal takes the form of either lottery or sports betting, and is controlled by a state monopoly run by the Games Department of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML).

The SCML monopoly has been contested by the EU because it breaks European trade laws, but so far, the Portuguese government has not shown signs of making any changes. In the meantime, players in Portugal can try to use foreign online casinos, but Portuguese ISPs filter the internet, making it difficult to find sites that have slipped through the blocks. There are still ways to play online casino games in Portugal if a player has enough patience to find them.