Portugal’s Santa Casa lottery launches online sports betting

Portugal’s sports bettors have one more online wagering option after the local regulator approved the country’s 13th licensee.

On Friday, the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body announced that it had issued an online sports betting license to SAS Social Betting, Gaming and Gambling Online, SA. The company will operate using the Placard.pt domain, which officially launched on Monday.

Placard is the offline betting brand of state lottery monopoly Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa (SCML), which was the primary antagonist against international gambling sites before Portugal liberalized its online market in 2015.

Santa Casa originally announced its intentions to apply for a sports betting license over two years ago. Launching just days before the 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off, SCML is apparently banking on familiarity with its Placard brand to allow it to hoover up a sufficient volume of customers without a lot of advance marketing work.