Ireland Gambling Laws: The GRAI and the New Licensing Regime

Is Online Gambling Legal in Ireland?

Is online gambling legal in Ireland? The answer depends on the form of gambling and on how far a new licensing regime has reached it. Ireland is moving gambling to a regime run by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), set up under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024. As enacted, the Act prohibits providing a game, in person or by remote means, without a gaming licence, and makes a breach an offence.

The legal status of online gambling therefore turns on licences that are arriving one category at a time. The Act provides for a remote gaming licence, but applications for GRAI gaming licences have not opened yet, and the GRAI says they will open during 2027 and 2028. Set beside other online gambling laws by country, Ireland gambling laws are a regime in transition rather than a settled one.

What Irish Gambling Law Says

Irish law on gambling is being rebuilt around one piece of legislation, the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, and a licensing regime set up under it and run by the GRAI. Is gambling legal in Ireland? The gambling legislation gives no single answer for every activity: betting, gaming and lotteries each have their own licence, and the gambling laws in Ireland reach each of them at a different stage.

Betting

For betting, the GRAI states that operating without a betting licence is a criminal offence. The statement is made for betting, the category in which GRAI licences have already taken effect, and it concerns the licence an operator needs to take bets. It does not extend to games or lotteries, which the law ties to licences of their own, each with its own place in the timetable.

Gaming

For games, the Act provides for a remote gaming licence, which authorises its holder to provide games by remote means. As enacted, it prohibits providing a game, in person or by remote means, without a gaming licence, and makes a breach an offence. The rule is framed around the provider: it is the person who provides the game who needs the gaming licence.

Lotteries

Lotteries are part of the same licensing regime. The GRAI names lottery licences among the further licences it is rolling out, alongside gaming, business-to-business, charitable and philanthropic licences, so lotteries are to move to GRAI licences as well. Like gaming, they sit behind betting in that sequence, with their own licence rather than one borrowed from another category of gambling.

Enactment, Commencement and Operational Licensing

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 reaches gambling through three steps that do not happen at the same time. Enactment fixes the text of the Act; commencement brings a provision into operation; operational licensing begins when the GRAI opens applications and issues licences for a category. A rule can therefore be written in the Act long before anyone can apply for the licence it requires.

Enactment

Enactment settled what the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 says. It provides for a remote gaming licence authorising its holder to provide games by remote means, which is how online casinos work: through a website or an app rather than at premises. Enactment alone does not show from what date each section applies; that is the work of commencement.

Commencement

Commencement under the new regime is phased. The GRAI is introducing its licences one category at a time, and remote betting licences took effect on 1 July 2026, while gaming has not reached that point. A date that applies to betting therefore does not carry over to gaming or lotteries: each category comes into the GRAI licensing system on its own timetable.

Operational Licensing

For gaming, the GRAI licensing stage is still ahead. Applications for GRAI gaming licences have not opened yet, and the GRAI says they will open during 2027 and 2028. Until then, the GRAI refers gaming licences to the Revenue Commissioners and asks existing licence holders to keep renewing their licences, which leaves a gap in time between the Act providing the licence and the GRAI accepting applicants.

Which Forms of Gambling Are Licensed in Ireland?

Gambling licensing in Ireland is being moved to the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) one form of gambling at a time, so the answer differs for betting, gaming and lotteries. Each of them has its own licence, and a licence for one form of gambling does not stand in for the licence another requires. For each form, the licence concerned, the body it goes through and the stage its GRAI licensing has reached are as follows:

Betting

For betting, GRAI licensing has begun. Remote betting licences issued by the GRAI took effect on 1 July 2026, as part of the phased introduction of its licences. Of betting, gaming and lotteries, betting is the only one for which a GRAI licence has taken effect, since applications for gaming and lottery licences have not opened.

Gaming

For gaming, the licence is the gaming licence the Act requires, including the remote gaming licence for games provided by remote means. It is not open to applicants under the GRAI yet: applications for GRAI gaming licences have not opened, and the GRAI says they will open during 2027 and 2028. In the meantime, it refers gaming licences to the Revenue Commissioners, where existing licence holders are asked to keep renewing their licences.

Lotteries

For lotteries, the GRAI licence has not opened to applicants either. The GRAI says applications for further licences, lotteries among them, will open during 2027 and 2028, the same window as gaming. Lotteries therefore share the timetable of gaming rather than that of betting, and a lottery licence is a separate licence, not one covered by a betting or a gaming licence.

Remote Betting and Remote Gaming Authorisation

Remote betting and remote gaming are two separate authorisations under Ireland’s new regime, and the legal status of each depends on its own licence. Remote betting covers bets taken at a distance; remote gaming covers games provided by remote means. The two licences reach the GRAI’s timetable at different points, so the position of one says nothing about the position of the other.

Remote Betting

Remote betting licences issued by the GRAI took effect on 1 July 2026. A betting licence authorises betting, and it does not stand in for the gaming licence that games need: as enacted, the Act prohibits providing a game without a gaming licence. The GRAI’s statement that operating without a betting licence is a criminal offence likewise concerns betting alone.

Remote Gaming

Remote gaming has its own licence in the Act, the remote gaming licence, which authorises its holder to provide games by remote means. Its GRAI stage lies ahead: the GRAI says applications for its gaming licences will open during 2027 and 2028. Until they do, the GRAI refers gaming licences to the Revenue Commissioners, a route separate from the remote betting licences that took effect in July 2026.

Changes to Ireland’s Gambling Framework

The main change to Ireland’s gambling legislation is the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, which moves gambling to a licensing regime run by the GRAI. Commencement is phased, so the reform reaches each form of gambling at a different time and is under way rather than complete. Beyond the licences themselves, the Act sets out these parts of the new framework:

• A register: the Act requires the GRAI to set up and keep a register of gambling licensees.
• Advertising: licensees must follow the advertising obligations set by the Act and its regulations.
• Court orders: where gambling is provided or advertised in breach of the Act, the Act as enacted allows the GRAI to ask the court to order it to stop.
• Blocking: under the same provision, the Act as enacted allows the GRAI to ask the court to order internet service providers to block access to it.

Each part of the reform falls on a different party. The register and the application to the court are tasks for the GRAI; the advertising obligations fall on licensees; the blocking orders the Act provides for are addressed to internet service providers. Those orders are the court’s to make, on an application by the GRAI, and they reach gambling advertised in breach of the Act as well as gambling provided in breach of it.

Responsible Gambling and Support

Responsible gambling starts with noticing how gambling affects spending, time and everyday life, rather than judging harm only by the amount lost. In Ireland, as elsewhere, difficulty stopping or repeatedly changing a planned limit is a reason to pause and seek support. Personal safeguards, including responsible gambling tools, can help put boundaries around behaviour, but using a tool should not become a reason to continue when gambling is causing distress. A useful starting point is to recognise changes such as these:

• Chasing losses by continuing to gamble after deciding to stop.
• Repeatedly exceeding spending or time limits.
• Using money needed for food, housing or other essentials.
• Borrowing money or hiding gambling spending.
• Gambling disrupting sleep, work or relationships.

A personal spending limit is a boundary, not a target to reach, and repeated difficulty keeping that boundary calls for a different response. Taking a break and discussing the situation with someone trusted are practical steps that do not require waiting for financial harm to worsen. Understanding what self-exclusion is can also form part of that conversation without assuming any particular scheme is available. These are personal harm-reduction choices, made and kept by the person who gambles.

Seeking support can begin with a straightforward description of what has changed: spending beyond a limit, hiding losses, or feeling unable to stop. A conversation with a healthcare professional can focus on those concerns without requiring the person to diagnose themselves first. Learning how to block gambling sites may help create distance from gambling while that conversation takes place. Technical barriers should accompany support rather than replace it, especially when gambling is already affecting essential spending, mental wellbeing or relationships with other people.

Operator Self-Exclusion and a National Scheme

Self-exclusion is a responsible gambling measure in which a person asks to be prevented from gambling for a set period. It comes at two levels: an exclusion arranged with one gambling business, and a national scheme meant to apply across several businesses at once. The difference between them is one of reach, and it decides how far a single request can go.

Operator Self-Exclusion

Operator self-exclusion means an exclusion arranged with an individual gambling business, with its scope defined by the arrangement. The relevant details include which accounts or brands the exclusion covers, its duration and the conditions governing its end. An exclusion at operator level should not be assumed to extend to unrelated businesses. As a general harm-reduction measure, self-exclusion can accompany support for gambling-related harm rather than replace that support.

National Self-Exclusion Scheme

A national self-exclusion scheme is designed to coordinate exclusions across participating gambling businesses, rather than leave each exclusion as a separate operator arrangement. Its coverage depends on which businesses take part and how the scheme is run. Under Irish law, the register that the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 requires the GRAI to keep is a register of gambling licensees: it records licence holders, not people who have asked to be excluded.

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