Portugal to follow France, Spain, and Italy to Become Single-Nation Poker Market

horizon12

horizon12

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Total posts
4,126
Chips
0
In a move that will have shocked many in the country's online gaming industry (not least the players), SRIJ Director and Head of Online Gambling Manuela Bandeira announced on Monday that regulated online poker in Portugal would be segregated.

The announcement, made at the country's gambling Compliance Conference in Lisbon, was unexpected to say the least. Up until now poker players in portugal have been free to compete with players across the globe. Although a regulatory regime had been planned for some time, and it was known that all operators were likely to have to be regulated by the SRIJ, nobody had forseen the country going down the same path as france, Italy, and Spain, and segregating the players from the global player pool.

To make matters worse for online poker players "Games of chance", (which in Portugal includes Poker) is set to be taxed at 30%, making the games all but impossible for the overwhelming majority of players to win. This seems especially harsh, as, according to flushdraw.net, other forms of gambling, including a lot of sports betting, will only be taxed between 8-16%.

Add to this the fact that France, Italy, and Spain's online poker market has shrunk since segregation due to the lack of liquidity with the smaller player pool - coupled with the fact that Portugal's market is smaller than all three of them - then one can only assume that Portuguese officials aren't too concerned with making it's online poker offering a great success.

source: highstakesdb.com
 
BluffMeAllIn

BluffMeAllIn

4evrInmyheart RIP xoxo :(
Silver Level
Joined
May 2, 2009
Total posts
11,324
Chips
0
Just an lol, step 1 to killing off regulated online poker in portugal.

They should all jump on ACR if they can, boost the traffic there :D
 
Pococurante

Pococurante

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Mar 12, 2015
Total posts
12
Awards
1
BE
Chips
6
I already wrote on FB. I think this shows a lack of understanding of the nature of poker and a lack of interest. It's a lacklustre deal that has been proven ineffective in countries like France and so it should have been an easy decision not to opt for this, had there been any interest in making this work. Now it's probably just a move to calm down whatever anti gambling lobby there is while at the same time trying to milk the cow. It's time for a country to find a good way of dealing with poker as opposed to pure gambling offerings and show the way so other countries can adopt their legal model. Right now all we can do is sit back and shake our head.
 
L

Lexxx

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 11, 2015
Total posts
652
Awards
4
Chips
0
How many countries did the same thing?
 
angeliks

angeliks

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Total posts
118
Awards
1
Chips
2
I'm sorry.
I hope this does not happen in argentina because it may leave the poker
 
Top