“The Eurosorteio consists of a new State social game about drawing numbers”, the operation of which “is carried out jointly with other European countries”, and “includes the attribution of prizes which, in certain categories, will be paid monthly in installments, in terms established in the regulation”, states Diário da República Decree-Law No. 98/2023, of 20th of October.

“The creation of this game aims to combat the illegal offer of this type of number draw, channeling it towards the legal and controlled offer of games, under strict conditions of security, integrity and transparency, which are guaranteed by SCML”, can be read on the diploma.

The new game had already been promulgated by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who warned that players' dependence should lead to fewer offers of this type of betting in Portugal.

"Notwithstanding the recently highlighted problem of adding to the game, which should normally lead to a smaller and not a larger supply, as well as the past experience in which new games caused a drop in previous ones, but also considering the eminently social objectives of the revenue collected by the Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Lisbon, which should also be channeled towards the treatment and prevention of addictive behaviors, the President of the Republic promulgated the Government diploma that creates the State's social game called Eurosorteio and authorizes the Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Lisbon to proceed with the respective exploration on an exclusive basis for the entire national territory", reads the note from Palácio de Belém.

The new Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa game was approved by the Government at the Council of Ministers meeting on the 28th of September.

On the occasion, the Secretary of State for the Presidency, André Moz Caldas, sought to rule out the existence of possible harmful consequences in terms of social behavior and also rejected the thesis that this new game is aimed at younger people.

"We are facing a game that does not have an instant prize, and is therefore different from the type of games that have recently been associated with addictive behavior", he argued then.

Instead of a fixed prize paid in full, whoever wins the new lottery will receive a monthly installment paid over several years. The first prize, for example, will entitle you to 20 thousand euros per month for 30 years.

The first draw should take place on the 6th of November, with two draws per week expected: on Mondays and Thursdays in Portugal and eight other European countries, the same ones where EuroMillions is played.

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