Gambling addiction help in Portugal

Verified helplines

Helplines and online chat

Linha 1414, run by ICAD (Instituto para os Comportamentos Aditivos e as Dependências), is the counselling and information line the gambling regulator itself points people to. The SRIJ describes it as "gratuita, anónima e confidencial", open "todos os dias úteis das 10 às 18 horas", and "assegurado por Psicólogos Clínicos com formação específica" — answered by clinical psychologists with specific training, not by a call-centre script. Email counselling is available at 1414@icad.min-saude.pt.

Jogadores Anónimos Portugal runs peer meetings. In Lisbon, the "Um Novo Começo" group meets at the Centro Paroquial do Campo Grande, Campo Grande 244, 4.º andar, on Saturdays 10:30–12:00 and Wednesdays 18:30–20:00 (919 449 917). In Porto, the group meets at the Igreja Paroquial de Leça da Palmeira on Fridays 21:30–23:00 (933 191 317). Zoom groups run most weekday evenings from 21:15.

Self-exclusion

Portugal splits self-exclusion in two, and the online half is the one you can start immediately.

Online gambling: autoexclusão

You can self-exclude on a single operator's website, in which case it applies to that operator only, or through the SRIJ's central platform at autoexclusaoonline.srij.turismodeportugal.pt, which the SRIJ states is valid for "todos os sites de jogos e apostas online licenciados em Portugal". The central platform is the one worth using. The SRIJ published a new online self-exclusion form on 8 April 2026.

The minimum term is three months; you can also choose an indefinite exclusion. What happens to the money differs: with a fixed-term exclusion your accounts are suspended and you can withdraw your balance, while with an indefinite exclusion the accounts are cancelled and the balance is transferred to your registered payment account.

Ending it is deliberately slow. The SRIJ states that "a comunicação do termo da autoexclusão da prática de jogos e apostas online apenas produz efeitos um mês após a referida comunicação" — even after the three-month minimum has elapsed, notice to end the exclusion only takes effect a month later. In practice that is a built-in month of friction between the decision to return and the ability to deposit.

Casinos and bingo rooms: proibição de acesso

This is a separate request to the SRIJ, and you set the period yourself. Three filing routes exist: in person at the SRIJ offices located inside casinos or at SRIJ headquarters (Rua Ivone Silva, Lote 6, 1050-124 Lisboa), by post with a notarised signature, or by email with a qualified digital signature. You need valid photo ID, a colour passport-style photograph, and the form with a legally recognised signature. Once validated, you cannot enter the rooms — and the prohibition cannot be revoked during the period you chose.

Licensed operators must report anyone who self-excludes to the SRIJ "no prazo máximo de 24 horas" from receiving the request, which is what makes a single filing propagate across the market. How this compares with schemes elsewhere is set out in self-exclusion by country.

Blocking gambling payments and sites

Self-exclusion binds licensed operators. It does not reach unlicensed sites, which is the obvious hole to close on the same day — device-level blocking is the second layer, and the practical options are compared in blocking apps for iOS and Android.

There is no national bank-level gambling block in Portugal to sign up for, so if you want card payments to gambling merchants stopped, ask your own bank what controls it offers. Debt that has already built up is a separate problem from access, and treating it as one problem tends to stall both: what to do about gambling debt.

The SRIJ publishes the list of licensed entities and the licences each one holds, which is how to check whether a site you have an account with is inside the regulated market at all. Sites outside it will not receive your self-exclusion.

Free treatment and counselling

The route into treatment goes through ICAD, the national institute for addictive behaviours and dependencies. The SRIJ directs people to ICAD's public pre-registration module at inscricaopublica.icad.min-saude.pt, where you can pre-register with a treatment team of your choice rather than waiting for a referral. ICAD also publishes a gambling self-assessment tool.

ICAD's remit covers treatment, harm reduction and social reintegration for addictive behaviours with and without a substance, so gambling is handled inside the same public network as alcohol and drugs, through Centros de Respostas Integradas and local intervention teams.

Jogadores Anónimos costs nothing and asks nothing beyond the wish to stop gambling; its meetings run in person in Lisbon and Porto and on Zoom several evenings a week. If you are unsure whether to make the call at all, the self-test takes a few minutes.

Support for family and friends

Linha 1414 takes calls from relatives, and the email address is often easier for a first contact than the phone. Famílias Anónimas holds Zoom meetings on the second and last Tuesday of each month at 20:00 (966 496 718), for people affected by someone else's gambling rather than by their own.

One concrete step: help the person file through the SRIJ central platform rather than on a single operator's site, because a single-site exclusion leaves the other licensed operators open and is the most common way a self-exclusion quietly fails. More in how to help someone with a gambling addiction and signs of gambling addiction.

Gambling law and the regulator

The Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos, part of Turismo de Portugal, controls, regulates and inspects both land-based games and online gambling. The online market runs under the Regime Jurídico dos Jogos e Apostas Online, approved by Decreto-Lei n.º 66/2015 of 29 April 2015, whose stated aims include "garantir a proteção dos menores e das pessoas mais vulneráveis" and "prevenir o jogo excessivo e comportamentos e práticas aditivas".

Only SRIJ-licensed entities may offer online games and bets. The regulated online categories include fixed-odds sports betting, horse-race betting, bingo, poker, roulette, blackjack, baccarat and slot machines. Operators must "desenvolver e implementar meios que impeçam os menores e outros grupos socialmente vulneráveis de realizar o registo de jogador" — build systems that stop minors and vulnerable groups from registering as players at all.