Insights & Media

News

2019-11-14
Filipe Mayer analyzes the promotion of illegal gambling sites by youtubers

News

Filipe Mayer, Partner and Head of the Online Gaming area of CCA Law Firm, was invited yesterday to the SIC Notícias Night Edition to discuss the theme of the promotion of illegal gambling sites by some of the most influential youtubers in Portugal, such as Sirkazzio, Wuant and Windoh, which together reach over 10 million network subscribers.

An investigation conducted by Rádio Renascença revealed the controversy that reports that more than a dozen Portuguese youtubers have been promoting unlicensed online gambling sites in Portugal in recent months, such as “Blaze” or “Drakemall”.

As the CCA Partner explains, "by promoting these sites, youtubers are committing two unlawful acts: one related to the game itself and the other related to advertising", adding that "under the online gambling scheme, the exploitation and promotion of unauthorized online games by any means is a crime".

From the point of view of advertising, youtubers who promote a game that is not licensed in Portugal incur a misdemeanor that "may apply to the operator, in this case the advertiser, but also to any other player in the advertising message, in this case the youtuber himself and the social network in question", explains Filipe Mayer.

Although the two most-advertised websites by youtubers, “Blaze.com” and “Drakemall”, are registered at foreign addresses, the Partner guarantees that "these youtubers are in Portugal, they advertise in Portuguese and address themselves to the Portuguese public. In terms of the application of Portuguese criminal law to any practice, there is little doubt that the unlawful act, if any, is practiced in Portugal".