The Portuguese government is considering new regulations to control gambling advertising.
As with many countries around the world, Portugal brings in much-needed money to boost public finances from gambling companies, but there are concerns over addiction issues.
Controls over gambling advertisements are being assessed by a lot of nations and Portugal has joined them with tightening regulations becoming a potential pathway forward.
Lawmakers have voted in favour of moving forward with a series of five proposals that would put new regulations in place for how gambling companies can advertise their services in Portugal.
All of the new proposals have been made by Portugal’s left-wing ecologist party Livre and they will now move forward to the committee stage, where they will be discussed in more detail.
Banning gambling companies from being able to sponsor sports teams is one of the changes that will be debated, along with moves to restrict online gambling ads.
Addiction warnings could have to be shown on gambling-related content if that proposal passes, but not all of the ideas that were put forward have a chance to become law in Portugal.
One of the more controversial proposals was a suggestion to introduce a ban on the sale of scratch cards in healthcare facilities, but this idea was rejected by MPs at São Bento Palace.
Advertising Defended By APAJO
While lawmakers in Portugal continue to debate gambling reform, the industry has defended its need to advertise services to interested consumers. According to the Portuguese Online Betting and Gambling Association (APAJO), advertising can be a vital tool for consumer protection.
APAJO president Ricardo Domingues said in a statement:
Advertising is the only real advantage that licensed operators have over illegal ones. And it’s the only way for Portuguese consumers to distinguish between the licensed and the unlicensed, the safe and the unsafe.
Domingues also claimed that restrictions on the gambling industry in Portugal could be a boost for the black market, leading people to use unregulated sites. He noted around 40% of online gamblers in Portugal still use illegal platforms, with most of them unaware they are doing so.
The APAJO head cited the example of Italy, where the government is mulling over going back on a ban on gambling advertising due to some of the unexpected knock-on impacts seen.
What Are Portugal’s Gambling Laws?
Like in a lot of countries, the gambling laws in Portugal at the moment are not straightforward.
There is a dual legal framework in place for the industry in the country, with the Gambling Law of 1989 ensuring that gambling venues like casinos, bingo halls, and arcades can only be located in specific municipal zones.
Decree 66/2015 then covers online gambling and sports betting, which is the rest of the industry.
Portugal’s licensed online casino operators pay a taxation rate of 25%, while this drops to between 8-16% for sports betting businesses.
Portuguese online gambling revenue actually fell quarter-on-quarter at the start of 2025, which was the first time in three years that this has happened.
The Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Party have also given their backing to a new non-binding resolution that calls for a comprehensive modernisation of the gambling framework.
MPs from the Livre party have argued that gambling increasingly happens out of sight in Portugal due to mobile apps offering casino games and sports betting, with these options particularly appealing and potentially addictive to younger people.
Gambling reform is therefore likely to continue to be a hot debate in Portugal for some time.