Portugal Online Gambling Summary 2009

This article is part of a series of 2009 summaries in online gambling worldwide. For more on Portugal and the Portuguese speaking online gambling world, visit the localized Online Casino Reports Portuguese.

As the leading online casino in Portugal, Casino King offers tremendous gaming variety and generous sign-up bonuses. It is owned by iGlobalMedia Entertainment Limited and managed by Global Gaming Net (GGN).

On the poker front, it's Titan Poker that comes up trumps as the player favorite. Titan Poker sports software developed and maintained by leading software giant PlayTech.

Bingo is making a stellar comeback and Portugal is seeing increasing player numbers in this dynamic online game. Bingo Day is the most trusted online bingo destination, offering the biggest bingo games, a multi-player slot machine and much more.

Record Jackpots
The highlight of the year was for Portuguese lottery winners Mario and Clelia Lopes. They won a massive $126 million prize in the July 22 Mega Millions draw. Clelia was carting the winning ticket around in her purse for several days without even realizing it, but it soon became all too clear.

Big-Time Local Winners in 2009
Portugal boasted several big winners in 2009. Among the biggest of the Portuguese winners are the following lucky stars:

• Antonio Matias won the EPT Vilamoura Poker Tournament with a 1st Prize of €404,793
• Domingos R played Diamond Valley at Europa Casino on 28 March and won €65,239

Business News
Big industry news is that PartyGaming and Bwin are involved in serious merger discussions to create a €2 billion online gaming empire in Europe in what is a far-reaching industry consolidation move.

Great New Products
JackpotCity Casino is scheduled to release the stunning game Hellboy video slot on 14th January 2010. This widely popular Microgaming video slot is licensed to Dark Horse Comics and features a 5-reel, 20-payline multiple coin game with Wild and Scatter symbols which triggers a four-level bonus feature.

Sports Betting

The Portuguese Super Liga kicked off in August 2009 and continues its charge through May 2010. Plus there is the most anticipated Football event of the year - the 2010 FIFA World Cup taking place in South Africa.

Regulation/Legality
In a loss for private sports betting operators, Bwin lost to Portuguese monopoly Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Lisboa. The EU Court ruled against Bwin, but it's good to know that Portugal's fight against crime and corruption in sports betting is alive and kicking.

Looking ahead to 2010
Portugal presently has a ban on online gambling because the government is worried about these games becoming problematic for some citizens. But private online gaming enterprises are pushing for EU regulation and 2010 is as good a year as any to make inroads.

And we leave you with warm wishes for a Happy New Year and a picture of Miss Portugal 2009.