Amaya Gaming’s PokerStars brand has become the latest operator to withdraw its services from Portugal. This week saw the PokerStars Partners Team issue emails to its Portuguese affiliates, instructing them that Stars’ affiliate program “will no longer accept players from Portugal until further notice.” The email warned that “all marketing materials (banners, links, etc.) and marketing efforts should cease immediately.” The decision also applies to Amaya’s Full Tilt brand. Portugal is in the process of implementing its new online gambling regime, which came into effect on Monday, June 29. Operators interested in obtaining new Portuguese licenses are withdrawing from the…

William Hill has announced that it is to exit the Estonia and Portugal gambling markets by the end of the month due to “recent regulatory developments”. In an email to affiliates, the bookmaker said that none of its products will be available to access in the two countries as of June 28. Players will still have access to their accounts in order to withdraw any existing funds, but affiliates will be required to remove all marketing materials from their websites that relate to Estonian and Portuguese punters. “We would like to inform you that following recent regulatory developments in Estonia…

Portugal’s Secretary of State for Tourism, Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, has confirmed that the country will launch a legalised online gaming market on June 28. As reported by iGaming Business, the country’s Council of Ministers in March approved a bill to establish a legal framework for online gaming, shortly before President Aníbal Cavaco Silva also signed off the new bill. The launch, which comes after a more than a decade of discussions, will enable players inside and outside of the country to access Portuguese gaming sites. National regulator Santa Casa de Misericordia de Lisboa will oversee the licence awarding process and…

Poker News – While Portugal’s national government keeps working on the new online gambling law that was supposed to be approved by February this year, the Authority for Food and Economic Safety (ASAE) continues its war against illegal gambling and has announced the closure of yet another non-authorized casino. “We have already closed around 25 illegal casino rooms only in the Norte region (Northern Portugal),” said ASAE inspector Rute Serra in an interview published today by Portugal’s daily Journal de Noticias. Discussing ASAE’s latest anti-illegal gambling operation, Serra spoke about illegal gambling as a phenomenon on the rise, followed by…

Poker News – After an attempt to regulate online gaming last November did not succeed, the Portuguese government has already pledged that it will be ready to approve a new piece of legislation by the end of February. Público, Portugal’s leading newspaper, reports that the changes were anticipated in a memorandum of understanding that Portugal’s government sent earlier this week to Europe’s troika (European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund) for presenting some of the measures planned to help the country’s growth. Although it is still unclear how the government intends to regulate Portugal’s online gaming and betting markets,…