The Rise of Cross-Border Online Gaming in Europe — And What It Means for Portuguese Players

Europe's online gambling market has quietly become one of the continent's most active digital sectors. Market data published by the European Gaming and Betting Association in March 2025 indicates that online gross gaming revenue across the EU-27 and the UK reached €47.9 billion in 2024 and is expected to cross the 40 per cent share of total gambling revenue milestone in 2025. Portugal sits firmly inside that growth story — but the broader European picture is more interconnected, and more nuanced, than national headlines often suggest.

For Portuguese readers following the digital economy, understanding the difference between the regulated domestic market and the wider European casino landscape has become genuinely useful. The two are linked through EU policy, common payment infrastructure and shared player expectations, yet they remain legally distinct in important ways.

A Pan-European Market With National Borders

The European Union operates on a principle of freedom to provide services across member states. Online gambling, however, is one of the clear exceptions. As the European Commission notes in its overview of online gambling in the internal market, there is no sector-specific EU legislation in this field — each country sets its own licensing regime, its own tax framework and its own enforcement priorities. The result is a continent that looks like a single market on the surface, but functions as a patchwork underneath.

The scale of that patchwork is significant. Malta licenses operators serving players across multiple jurisdictions. Sweden, Germany, Spain and Portugal each operate their own registers of approved sites, with their own rules on bonuses, advertising and product types. In a recent Thesunpapers review of the European market, reporter Valentina catalogued fifteen operators serving players across multiple EU countries — illustrating how broad the cross-border supply has become, and how varied the licensing, currency and payment options are from one jurisdiction to the next.

That diversity is the defining feature of the modern European online casino landscape. Players in Sweden lean heavily on locally licensed sites — online gambling penetration there reaches 68.3 per cent of total gambling revenue, the highest in Europe — while players in Italy, Germany and Spain operate under stricter advertising and product rules. Portuguese players, meanwhile, sit inside one of Europe's most carefully regulated environments.

Portugal's Position in the Bigger Picture

Portugal's online gambling market has grown steadily since its 2015 licensing framework came into force. Gross gaming revenue from online operators reached €1.11 billion in 2024, a 32 per cent year-on-year increase according to figures aggregated by Houlihan Lokey in its August 2025 European market report. Player accounts on platforms licensed by the Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) have continued to climb, reaching close to 4.9 million by mid-2025.

What makes Portugal distinct within the European context is the strictness of its territorial enforcement. The SRIJ has the legal authority to block unlicensed websites, and operators based abroad are not permitted to serve Portuguese consumers without securing a domestic licence. This contrasts sharply with the situation in countries such as Finland, where state monopolies still dominate, or France, where online casino games are prohibited entirely.

The practical consequence for Portuguese residents is that the legally protected option for online casino play is a domestic SRIJ-licensed site. Cross-border operators may serve players in other European countries, but engagement with platforms outside the Portuguese licensing framework carries no consumer-protection guarantees under Portuguese law.

What Portuguese Readers Should Understand About the EU Landscape

Even within the limits of national licensing, the wider European market provides useful context. Three observations stand out.

First, mobile dominance is a continent-wide trend. Industry data indicates that 58 per cent of online gambling revenue in Europe in 2024 came from mobile devices, with that share projected to reach 67 per cent by 2029. Portuguese player behaviour mirrors this shift almost exactly, with operators in the SRIJ register reporting that the majority of stakes are now placed on smartphones.

Second, casino games — particularly slots — have become the largest single online segment in Europe, generating €21.5 billion in 2024 against €13.7 billion for sports betting. In Portugal, casino games already account for nearly 60 per cent of online gambling revenue, placing the country firmly within the European mainstream rather than ahead of or behind it.

Third, regulatory cooperation between European authorities is increasing. Information-sharing on responsible-gambling tools, self-exclusion frameworks and anti-money-laundering enforcement has expanded across the bloc, and Portugal has been an active participant in those conversations. The trajectory of Portuguese regulation closely tracks the wider European direction, as recent coverage of how regulated online gambling markets are evolving across major economies has noted.

Where the Market Is Heading

Forecasts published in early 2025 expect European online gambling to reach €51.1 billion in revenue this year, with online's share of total gambling revenue projected to approach parity with land-based by 2029. Whether Portugal mirrors that trajectory will depend less on player demand — which is plainly already there — and more on how the SRIJ continues to balance market growth with consumer protection.

For Portuguese readers, the most useful posture is an informed one. The European casino market is genuinely vast, genuinely varied and genuinely growing. But the legal channel for online play in Portugal remains the domestic, licensed one, and that distinction is worth keeping front of mind whenever the wider European picture is discussed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are foreign online casinos legal for players in Portugal? No. Operators offering online gambling services to consumers physically located in Portugal must hold a licence from the SRIJ. The regulator has the authority to block unlicensed websites, and engagement with non-licensed platforms is not covered by Portuguese consumer protection law.

How large is the European online gambling market compared with Portugal's? Europe's total online gambling gross gaming revenue reached €47.9 billion in 2024, according to industry data compiled in March 2025. Portugal contributed €1.11 billion of that total, making it a mid-sized but rapidly growing national market within the EU-27.

Why do different EU countries have such different gambling rules? Online gambling falls outside the EU's general freedom-to-provide-services framework. Each member state legislates its own regime, which is why licensing, taxation and even the legality of online casino games vary so widely between Portugal, Germany, France, Spain and the Nordics.

Is online casino revenue growing faster than sports betting in Europe? Yes. Online casino games generated €21.5 billion across Europe in 2024, well ahead of sports and events betting at €13.7 billion. Both segments are forecast to grow at around 7 per cent annually through 2029.