SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Portuguese Ministry of Finance and the Inspecção-Geral de Jogos (IGJ) have draft the proposed final legislation for online gambling and sports betting, which will be reviewed by government officials before the Portuguese governmental break on July 10th.
Regional news sources have reported that the review of the bill, has been moved ahead of schedule in order for Portugal to meet European Union Commission standards and criteria on the implementation of online gambling legislations.
On at least two occasions, the Ministry of Finance and the IGJ had failed to meet time deadlines on the drafting legislation for online gambling and sports betting. The EU Commission, has placed the Portuguese Government under pressure to find/demonstrate new channels of governmental revenue as part of the terms of its 2011 Troika fiscal bailout clause.
On Friday 14th of June Luís Marques Guedes, minister of the presidency & of parliamentary affairs recently commented that this first draft would be ready for governmental review by the end of June. Igaming business commentators expect Portugal’s IGJ to adopt the same legislation framework as Spain.
