The GRAI Explained: Ireland's Gambling Regulator

The GRAI and Irish gambling regulation: what's actually changed

Ireland got its first proper gambling regulator in March 2025, and for most of the time since, very little about that was visible to anyone actually placing a bet. That changed in 2026. The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland now issues licences, investigates complaints and can fine an operator up to €20 million. Credit cards can no longer be used to gamble. Bookmakers you have used for years are operating under a licence that did not exist eighteen months ago.

But the change is only half done, and the half that is missing matters. Several of the protections people assume are already in place, including the national self-exclusion register and the ban on gambling ads before 9pm, have not started yet. Online casinos are not licensed in Ireland at all, and will not be until 2027 at the earliest.

Here is what has actually commenced, what has not, and what either means for you.

The short version

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 replaced laws dating back to 1929 and 1931 and created a single regulator, the GRAI, to license and police gambling in Ireland. It is being switched on in stages rather than all at once.

Betting is now regulated. Since 1 July 2026, online bookmakers serving Irish customers hold a GRAI licence. Shops follow on 1 December 2026.

Online casino is not. Licences for gaming, the category covering slots and casino games, have not opened. They are expected across 2027 and 2028. Until then, casino sites serving Irish players run on Maltese, Manx, Gibraltar or Curacao licences.

Some protections are live, some are not. The credit card ban, deposit limits and the complaints system all started in February 2026. The national self-exclusion register, the advertising watershed and the ban on free bets and other inducements have not commenced at all.

Click to zoom

What the GRAI is, and what it replaced

Until 2026, gambling in Ireland was governed by a patchwork of old statutes. The Totalisator Act 1929 and the Betting Act 1931 covered racecourse betting and bookmakers' shops. The Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 covered gaming and lotteries. None of them had anything to say about the internet, because none of them could.

The practical effect was that online bookmakers were registered with the Revenue Commissioners largely for tax purposes, and online casinos sat outside the framework entirely. Ireland taxed remote gambling without really regulating it.

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 was signed into law on 23 October 2024 after roughly two decades of stop-start attempts. It established the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland, which came into being in March 2025 with Anne Marie Caulfield as chief executive and Paul Quinn as chairperson.

The GRAI's job is broader than issuing paperwork. It licenses operators, sets and enforces obligations on them, runs a complaints function, will operate the national self-exclusion register once that exists, and administers a Social Impact Fund paid for by the industry. One clean way to hold the split in your head: the GRAI licenses, the Revenue Commissioners still tax. Betting duty of 2% on stakes and 25% on betting exchange commission is unchanged and still collected by Revenue.

Two things sit outside the GRAI's remit. The National Lottery is regulated separately under the National Lottery Act 2013, so the Authority has no say over Lotto or EuroMillions. Fundraising lotteries run by political parties fall under the Electoral Reform Act 2022.

What actually changed on 5 February 2026

This is the date the regime became real. A commencement order signed by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration on 3 February took effect two days later, and it did several things at once.

It gave the GRAI the power to issue licences, and repealed the Totalisator Act 1929 and the Betting Act 1931 outright. It switched on the Authority's investigation, enforcement and complaints functions, along with administrative sanctions of up to €20 million or 10% of a licensee's turnover, whichever is greater.

It also brought in a set of obligations that affect players directly. According to Citizens Information, the measures commenced that day include a ban on using credit cards to pay for gambling, a ban on children gambling or being employed by licensees, a ban on ATMs in gambling premises unless the licence specifically permits one, and a requirement that operators let customers set limits on how much they gamble online.

The Department of Justice also confirmed obligations on operators to flag suspicious gambling activity to the Authority, to protect children online, and to follow new rules on how gambling accounts are run, including closing an account on request and refunding whatever is left in it.

There is one qualifier running through all of this, and it is the most misunderstood point in Irish gambling coverage. These obligations bind licensees. An operator that does not hold a GRAI licence is governed by whatever licence it does hold, not by the Act. That is precisely why the casino side of the market looked unchanged in February while the betting side did not.

What changed on 1 July 2026

This was the day the first GRAI licences took effect. Every online bookmaker and betting intermediary serving Irish customers now needs one, and the old Revenue permissions expired.

The most visible change for players is at sign-up. From 1 July 2026, a remote gambling licensee must verify who you are and how old you are before letting you register. Citizens Information sets out what that means in practice: photo identification showing your name and date of birth, proof of your address, and a bank, building society or credit union statement issued within the last six months.

If opening a betting account has felt more like opening a bank account lately, this is why. It is not the operator being awkward, and it is not optional for them.

Licensed betting operators are also now bound by the obligations that commenced in February, including paying out winnings, closing accounts on request and offering the limit-setting tools.

In-person betting shops make the same transition on 1 December 2026, when their existing Revenue licences run out.

What has not commenced yet

This is the section most competitor coverage gets wrong, usually by describing these as though they already apply.

The National Gambling Exclusion Register is not live. The Act provides for a single national register you could sign up to once and be excluded from every licensed operator. The GRAI is building it. It does not exist yet, and it depends on further regulations. Until it does, self-exclusion in Ireland means going to each operator separately, one account at a time.

The advertising watershed has not started. Section 149 of the Act will stop licensees arranging gambling advertising with broadcasters and on-demand services between 5.30am and 9pm. It is not in force. Worth knowing even when it does arrive: the restriction covers television, radio and on-demand audio-visual services, and does not extend to social media, video-sharing platforms or electronic communications.

The inducement restrictions have not started. The Act will make it an offence for a licensee to offer inducements to encourage you to gamble or to keep gambling, which covers free bets used to draw people in. That provision has not commenced, so free bets, sign-up offers and enhanced prices remain lawful in Ireland today.

The wider advertising and sponsorship code is also pending, including the ban on advertising gambling as attractive to children, the restrictions on sponsoring clubs and events with child members, and the opt-in requirement for direct marketing.

As the Racing Post reported in June 2026, the advertising watershed and the curtailment of inducements are the main outstanding items; most other obligations in the Act have commenced.

Why online casino is the odd one out

If you play slots or table games online, almost none of the above applies to the site you play on, and that is worth being clear-eyed about rather than reassured about.

Licences for gaming, the category that covers online casino play, have not opened. The GRAI's phasing puts the remaining categories, including gaming, lotteries, business-to-business suppliers and charitable licences, across 2027 and 2028. Some coverage published earlier in 2026 predicted casino licensing would open that autumn; that is out of date and should not be relied on.

Click to zoom

So a casino site serving Irish players today is operating under a licence from somewhere else, most commonly the Malta Gaming Authority, and sometimes the Isle of Man, Gibraltar or Curacao. Those regulators vary a great deal in how much protection they actually offer.

Two things follow, and they point in opposite directions, which is why this is worth saying plainly. The absence of an Irish licence is not currently evidence against a casino, because there is no Irish casino licence to hold. Equally, an Irish casino player today does not have the Irish statutory protections that an Irish betting customer now does. Both statements are true at once.

We cover how to check which regulator a site actually answers to, and what that regulator is worth, separately, because it is not licensed here yet and the checking is worth doing properly.

Click to zoom

What this means if something goes wrong

The complaints picture is more nuanced than "there's a regulator now, so complain to the regulator", and getting it wrong wastes weeks.

Citizens Information puts it directly: if you want to complain about a gambling operator, contact the operator itself, because the GRAI is not responsible for individual customer disputes. What you can bring to the Authority is a complaint that a licensed operator has breached its obligations under the Act.

That distinction matters. A dispute about a voided bet, a delayed withdrawal or a closed account is a matter between you and the operator in the first instance. A licensee ignoring the credit card ban, letting a child open an account or refusing to honour a deposit limit is a regulatory matter, and the GRAI can investigate, impose conditions, fine, suspend or revoke a licence.

And if the operator holds no Irish licence at all, as online casinos currently do not, the GRAI has no purchase on it. Your route is the operator's own complaints process, then whichever regulator actually licenses it.

Penalties are real where they apply. Advertising breaches carry up to five years' imprisonment or a fine on conviction. Offences involving children carry up to eight. Licensees can appeal sanctions through an independent appeals system.

We set out how a complaint actually works, step by step and by operator type, separately.

Click to zoom

What is still to come

Three things are worth watching, because each one changes the picture again.

The exclusion register. Whenever it launches, it becomes the single most useful tool available to anyone trying to step back from gambling, because it works across every licensed operator at once rather than one at a time. No launch date has been confirmed.

The advertising and inducement rules. These will noticeably change what Irish gambling marketing looks like, particularly around televised sport, and they are the provisions the industry has argued about hardest.

Casino licensing. When gaming licences open across 2027 and 2028, Irish players will for the first time have an Irish regulator standing behind online casino play, and the honest gap described above will start closing.

Alongside all of it, the Social Impact Fund is being built out. Commercial licensees pay an annual contribution into it, charitable and philanthropic licensees are exempt, and it funds treatment, prevention, education and research into gambling harm. Projections put it at €14 million a year or more.

None of this changes the maths of any bet. Regulation makes the environment fairer and the recourse clearer. It does not alter the odds, and a licensed operator is not a safer bet than an unlicensed one in any sense other than the legal one.

Frequently asked questions

Is online gambling legal in Ireland?

Yes. Online betting and online casino play are both legal for adults aged 18 and over. Online bookmakers serving Irish customers have needed a GRAI licence since 1 July 2026. Online casinos are not yet licensed in Ireland and operate under overseas licences.

Who regulates gambling in Ireland?

The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland, established in March 2025 under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024. It covers betting, gaming and certain lotteries. The National Lottery is regulated separately under the National Lottery Act 2013.

Can I still use a credit card to gamble in Ireland?

No, not with a licensed operator. The ban on paying for gambling by credit card, and on gambling on credit generally, commenced on 5 February 2026 and binds every GRAI licensee.

Is there a national self-exclusion scheme in Ireland?

Not yet. The National Gambling Exclusion Register is provided for in the Act and is being developed by the GRAI, but it is not operational. For now, self-exclusion has to be set up with each operator individually, and can be backed up with bank gambling blocks and blocking software.

Are gambling ads banned before 9pm in Ireland?

Not yet. The watershed on television and radio advertising between 5.30am and 9pm is in the Act but has not commenced. When it does, it will not cover social media, video-sharing platforms or electronic communications.

Are free bets banned in Ireland?

Not yet. The Act will make it an offence for a licensee to offer inducements to encourage gambling, but that provision has not commenced. Free bets and sign-up offers remain lawful in Ireland today.

Do I pay tax on gambling winnings in Ireland?

No. Winnings are tax-free for players. The duties that exist, 2% on betting stakes and 25% on exchange commission, are paid by operators to the Revenue Commissioners, not by you. Winnings are tax-free for players regardless of where the operator is licensed.

Safer gambling: this is general information about the regulatory position in Ireland, not legal advice. For anything specific to your own situation, check directly with the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland. If gambling is causing difficulty for you or someone you know, the National Gambling Helpline is free and confidential on 1800 936 725, 24 hours a day.