Ireland’s GRAI Gets Green Light to Issue Remote Gambling Licenses

It’s full steam ahead for Ireland’s new remote gambling regulatory regime, with licenses under the new system able to be issued from today.

Jim O’Callaghan, Ireland’s Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration signed an order yesterday (4 February) giving the country’s newly established regulator (GRAI) the go ahead to start awarding licenses to operators as soon as feasible. New remote operator licenses will be effective from 1 July 2026.

Operators holding old licenses issued by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners will be able to roll over to the new system as their licenses expire, thereafter becoming subject to GRAI’s rules and enforcement measures.

O’Callaghan explained in the order:

“Today marks another important step towards replacing Ireland’s outdated gambling laws with a streamlined and simplified licensing framework. This reflects the nature of modern gambling and takes into account the harms associated with problem gambling, by providing safeguards to protect people from those harms, especially children.

The Authority can issue licences for new entrants as soon as is feasible, licence remote operators from 1 July 2026 and in-person operators from 1 December 2026, when their existing licences, issued by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, expire.”

The new regime introduces a bunch of measures designed to minimise problem gambling and protect children from exposure to advertising. They are similar to measures that have been widely introduced in other countries, including prime time advertising restrictions, self exclusion option for players and deposit restrictions.

The GRAI will also have the power to issue fines of up to €20m or 10% of a licensee’s turnover, whichever is greater to operators found to be in breach of the rules.

Lack of enforcement action under the old regime had been long criticised and was one of the driving forces behind the introduction of the new regime, beginning with the  passing of Ireland’s Gambling Regulation Act 2024 (the Act). The Act came into effect March 2025 and established the GRAI to oversee online gambling in Ireland.