Portuguese online gambling market has opened its doors last week through the approval of first-ever licence.
The first company to secure an online betting licence in Portugal is BetClic Everest.
A European online gaming company established in France has a unique portfolio comprising five different and diverse brands operating a broad online gaming offers including sports betting, horse-race betting, poker and casino.
BetClic have stepped into the Portuguese market through sports-betting which appears to be the only vertical on offer at the moment, despite the fact that Portugal has also regulated poker and casino markets which, however, require a separate licence.
The approval of BetClic’s licence comes just over a year after Portugal launches plans to regulate and legalise online gambling market by opening it to international operators. The decision ended the monopoly of government-owned charity entity Santa Casa Misericordia de Lisboa with new online gambling regulations being implemented in June.
Portugal was urged to regulate the industry in 2011 and the final decision made by the government led to withdrawal of several major online companies from the country including William Hill and Betfair among others.
Portuguese licences issued by the state are valid for three years and can be renewed.
The basic tax-rate in the gambling market is 15% of gross income for gambling games, while 8% and commission are required from odds-type sports betting.
