PokerStars has received formal approval to launch its new Portugal-licensed online poker and casino site.

On Monday, the gaming overseers at Portugal’s Serviços de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) formally announced that they had issued an online gaming license to REEL Europe Ltd, an offshoot of PokerStars’ parent company Amaya Gaming, paving the way for the launch of the new Pokerstars.pt website.

The SRIJ’s License 005 entitles PokerStars to offer tournament poker, Hold’em and Omaha cash games, as well as blackjack and French roulette. The new website will mark the first time Portuguese players will be able to legally gamble on PokerStars since the company exited the market in July 2015 following the country’s adoption of new gambling regulation.

For the moment, Pokerstars.pt is still displaying a ‘coming soon’ type splash screen. When the site does eventually launch, action will be limited, as the diminutive Portuguese poker market will remain ring-fenced until a deal is struck to share liquidity with regulated markets in other European Union member states like France, Italy and Spain.