Online Gambling in Ireland
Background
For more than half a century two pieces of legislation governed gambling across Ireland. The Betting Act of 1931 has covered betting/wagering at betting shops across the country, while the Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1956 has covered the lottery and conduct of casino games in private clubs.
A report titled ‘Regulating Gaming in Ireland’ commissioned by the Irish Government and released in July 2008 unsurprisingly found that legislation at the time was wholly inadequate to apply to remote betting and casino gambling. The establishment of a regulatory system for remote gambling in Ireland was one of the key recommendations.
On the betting side of things there was progress with the passing of the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015 (Betting Act). It contains provisions specifically addressing remote bookmakers and betting exchanges offering online sports betting services. Responsibility for licensing of operators (domestic and international), compliance enforcement and collecting a 2% turnover tax rests with Irish Revenue Commissioners.
But the Betting Act does not explicitly cover online casino games. Further, an equivalent amendment to the Gaming and Lotteries Act to cover remote casino games has not been made leaving this category in a murky area until very recently. Regardless, online casino games, live dealer included have been made available to Irish players by operators licensed under the Betting Act.
Despite ambiguities around online casino game laws, Ireland has been at the forefront of live dealer game provision. In 2006 Dublinbet laid claim to being the first online casino to live stream games from a real ‘bricks and mortar’ casino – the Fitzwilliam Card Club and Casino in Dublin. These tables could be played by players around the world until they were discontinued in 2015.
Ireland’s new iGaming regulatory environment
The Irish government has been working on more comprehensive reforms to regulate all forms of gambling, including online casino games.
On 16 October 2024, Ireland’s Gambling Regulation Act 2024 (the Act) was passed by both houses of the Oireachtas. It came into effect on 5 March 2025.
The Act:
- repeals both the Gaming and Lotteries Acts and the Betting Acts and centralises the regulation of almost all gambling activity in Ireland (excluding lotteries).
- creates a new regulatory authority, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), with powers to regulate online gambling more broadly including sports betting, casino games and poker among other forms of gambling.
The GRAI is still in its formative stages but will have responsibility for licensing and enforcement of provisions contained in the Act. Concerns were expressed by members of parliament while the Act was being debated that it, and the GRAI would be paper tigers, exerting limited power over the industry. This remains to be seen.
Measures contained in the Act that GRAI has a mandate to enforce include:
- Advertising restrictions: restrictions on gambling advertising on TV and radio between the hours of 5:30am and 9:00 pm.
- Self exclusion: the introduction of a national self exclusion register that all operators must adhere to.
- Deposit restrictions: licensed operators will be unable to accept deposits via credit card or credit card funded payment providers (virtual wallets like PayPal etc)
- Restricted inducement: operators will be banned from offering players certain inducements to bet, such as free bets, free credit and VIP hospitality treatment.
Issue of new licenses
Following an order signed February 2026 by Ireland’s Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, the GRAI was given the go ahead to start issuing licenses under the new regime. New remote operator licenses would be effective from 1 July 2026. The order provides that:
“The GRAI 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.”
Major Operators
A who’s who of the biggest names in online gambling are all licensed to accept players from Ireland. They all offer a broad range of services including sports betting, casino games, and poker. Some of the bigger names include:
- Bet365
- Unibet
- William Hill
- 888
- Paddy Power
- BoyleSports
- Leo Vegas
- Betway
- Betfair
Best live casinos for Irish players
All the above brands offer live dealer games to customers from Ireland. Our favourites are:
