Portugal awards its second online sports betting license

The Portuguese regulator, Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ), granted Bet Entertainment Technologies Ltd the license to operate within its territory.

Portugal.- After granting the first license to offer regulated online games to French operator Betclic Everest Group at the end of May, Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ), awarded Bet Entertainment Technologies Ltd  with its second online sports betting license.

The Malta-based operator will offer its services in Portugal through the www.bet.pt domain, which operates on a SBTech-provided platform.

Portugal introduced its new legal framework for online gambling in June 2015, which resulted in the withdrawal of operators such as Betfair and William Hill.

As Portuguese lottery operator Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa and the land-based Solverde casino express interest in launching online operations, Bet Entertainment declared that the company “intends to secure its place of reference in the Portuguese market.”

In the meantime, PokerStars and Full Tilt will have to wait to re-enter the country, after the current SRIJ plan to share liquidity with other regulated online poker markets requiring the assent of the European Commission and a three to four month period to allow fellow EU members to make an assessment on the proposed regulatory framework.