Illegal Gambling Advertising

As reported by a Portuguese radio station (Radio Renascença), the Portuguese Public Prosecution Office started an investigation of cases related to illegal online gambling and illegal advertising of this activity by well-known Portuguese Youtubers.

More than a dozen of Portuguese Youtubers were found actively promoting illegal gambling sites targeting Portuguese consumers.

This activity constitutes not only a crime under Portuguese law, punishable with up to five years imprisonment, but also a misdemeanor for infringement of advertising rules, punishable with a fine up ranging from 1,750 up to 3,750 euros for natural persons and 3,500 up to 45,000 euros for legal entities. In addition, it is also in violation of Youtube’s terms and conditions.

The case was reported to the gaming industry regulator - the Game Regulation and Inspection Service (SRIJ) - by the Portuguese Association of Online Betting and Games an association representing legal operators.

According to the available information, this has happened not only in digital media platforms, such as Youtube and Instagram, but also in other non-digital media.

The regulators have been actively trying to detect advertising being carried out on illegal websites and operators and acting promptly by asking the owners of the media used for the immediate take down of the advertising.

There was special concern, taking into consideration that some of the social media entailed a risk of exposure of these contents to minors, as some were targeting minors as well as some of the Youtubers were underage.

Liability for the illegal promotion and advertising of these contents can lie not only on the Youtubers, but also on the agencies that assist them, as well as on the digital media platforms that allow this type of content to remain online once they become aware of the illegal content.