A ban on online betting website BetClic in Portugal could deprive the majority of its professional football clubs of valuable sponsorship revenues.
The civil court of Lisbon last week upheld an action by Portuguese monopoly Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa to ban BetClic from operating and advertising its Malta-licensed sites in the country.
BetClic, which was given 30 days to appeal the judgment, faces a fine of up to €50,000 for each breach of the advertising ban, with government telcommunications body Anacom required to ensure the blocking of Portuguese consumers in the country.
Betclic sponsors a total of 28 of the 32 professional soccer clubs in Portugal.
Santa Casa, which was granted a gaming monopoly by the Portuguese state back in 2003, forced a name change of the bwin Cup to the League Cup this year after a Portuguese court in January ordered bwin terminate its advertising campaigns in Portugal, with Santa Casa seeking damages of €27m from bwin. The Football League said it was obliged to follow instructions from the court, but said it would lodge an appeal, as it would stand to lose considerable funding for its clubs should operators such as bwin and BetClic be forced to withdraw advertising and sponsorship from the country.
Santa Casa is also suing two other online operators active in the country, including Sportingbet, which yesterday had to switch off in neighbouring Spain, due to a local court injunction coming into effect.
