Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland: Who Is Licensed Under the 2024 Act

The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) is the body that licenses gambling under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, and since 1 July 2026 any online bookmaker taking bets from people in Ireland needs its remote betting licence. A legal betting site, in Irish terms, is one whose company appears on the GRAI register; no online casino is on it, because gaming licences have not been issued.

That register, not an advert or a badge in a site footer, is the test. The rest of this guide covers who sits on it, how the old Revenue system was wound down, and which parts of the Act are still on the shelf.

What the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland does

The Act, No. 35 of 2024, was signed into law on 23 October 2024. The GRAI was formally established on 5 March 2025, with Anne Marie Caulfield as chief executive, and it answers to the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, currently Jim O'Callaghan TD.

Its powers are not decorative. Under the order that took effect in February 2026 it can:

• grant, refuse and revoke betting licences, remote and in-person;
• investigate complaints and impose fines of up to EUR 20 million or 10% of turnover, whichever is greater;
• seek High Court orders to block the websites, advertising and payments of unlicensed operators;
• cap the amount a customer may lodge with a licensee.

Offering gambling without a licence is a criminal offence carrying a fine, up to eight years in prison, or both. The Betting Act 1931 and the Totalisator Act 1929 were repealed in the same move.

From Revenue licences to the GRAI: the timetable

Date	What happened
23 October 2024	Gambling Regulation Act 2024 enacted
5 March 2025	GRAI established
5 February 2026	Licensing order in force; Revenue stops issuing remote bookmaker's licences; credit ban begins
30 June 2026	Last day of Revenue remote bookmaker's licences
1 July 2026	GRAI remote betting and exchange licences begin
30 November 2026	Revenue licences for betting shops and on-course bookmakers expire
1 December 2026	GRAI in-person betting licences begin
Early 2027 (expected)	Gaming licences, covering casino, slots and bingo

Before July, online bookmakers held a remote bookmaker's licence from Revenue under the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015. Revenue's old register is still online but is now a historical document. A brand quoting only a Revenue number in October 2026 has not shown you an Irish licence.

Licence types under the Act

Part 5 of the Act sets out the menu. Section 85 covers betting, section 86 gaming, section 87 lotteries, section 88 charitable and philanthropic licences and section 89 business-to-business suppliers. Each consumer licence can be remote (internet, phone or television) or in-person, and runs for three years: the first remote betting licences expire in mid-2029.

Exchanges such as Betfair Exchange, Betdaq, Matchbook and Smarkets hold a separate remote betting intermediary licence, because they match punters against each other rather than lay the bets themselves.

Which bookmakers hold a GRAI licence

The register names the company, not the brand you see on the app, so a few translations help:

Licence holder	Brands
Hillside (Europe) ENC	bet365
PPB Counterparty Services Limited	Paddy Power, Betfair
Boylesports (Gibraltar) Limited	BoyleSports
WH Ireland Limited	William Hill
LC International Limited	Ladbrokes
ElectraWorks Limited	Coral, Bwin, Sportingbet
Platinum Gaming Limited	Unibet, 32Red
Bar-One Racing Limited	Bar One Racing

The licensed bookmakers that score best on our own form lines are below. Each licence covers betting only.

No.	Runner	Form	Licence	Verdict	Links
1	bet365Hillside (Europe) ENC	1-1-2-2-3	GRAI licence (betting)	NAP	Visit
2	Paddy PowerPPB Counterparty Services Limited	1-1-2-2-3	GRAI licence (betting)	NAP	Visit
3	BetfairPPB Counterparty Services Limited	1-1-4-4-4	GRAI licence (betting)	NAP	Visit
4	BoyleSportsBoylesports (Gibraltar) Limited	1-2-1-2-3	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit
5	LadbrokesLC International Limited	1-1-3-2-4	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit
6	William HillWH Ireland Limited	1-1-3-2-3	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit
7	Bar One RacingBar-One Racing Limited	1-3-5-5-5	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit
8	BetVictorBV Gaming Limited	1-2-5-4-5	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit
9	CoralElectraWorks Limited	1-2-4-4-4	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit
10	LivescorebetLiveScore Betting and Gaming (Gibraltar) Limited	1-2-3-4-4	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit

Form reads licence, markets, payments, safer-play tools, terms; 1 is best. How we rate. 18+ only.

To check a name yourself, search the register on the GRAI's own website; it lists the legal entity, the activity and the validity dates, and it can be downloaded. The same applies to apps: a legal betting app is simply the mobile front of a licensed company. Our bookmaker section reviews each of them.

Online casinos: no Irish gaming licence yet

Is an online casino legal in Ireland? The honest answer is that the law is mid-change. Gaming licences exist in the Act, but the Minister told the Dail on 13 October 2026 that gaming licensing is expected to start in early 2027. Until then:

• no casino site can call itself licensed in Ireland;
• a bookmaker's casino tab runs under a Maltese, British or Gibraltar licence, not its GRAI one;
• a player with a casino dispute has no Irish regulator to turn to.

The same logic answers searches about sites holding a Swedish, Maltese or Curacao licence. A licence from another country tells you who regulates the operator there. It says nothing about Ireland. Most crypto casinos are licensed in Curacao or Anjouan, and we mark every such brand swerve. Our casino section ranks only foreign-licensed sites with a credible regulator behind them.

When a site will not load

The GRAI can now ask the High Court to block unlicensed operators, and many offshore sites geo-restrict Ireland themselves. If a betting or casino site will not open, take it as information: the operator is either not licensed for Ireland or has chosen not to serve it. We do not publish ways round a block, and money lodged with such a site has no Irish protection.

Duty and tax

Licensing moved to the GRAI; tax did not. Bookmakers still pay Revenue a 2% duty on bets taken from people in the State, online or over the counter, and exchanges pay 25% of the commission they charge. On-course and tote bets carry no duty. Punters pay no income tax on winnings. The detail is on our gambling tax guide.

Still to come

Several sections of the Act are written but not yet in force as of late October 2026:

• Advertising watershed. No gambling ads on television, radio or on-demand services between 5.30am and 9pm. Commencement is still being worked on with the Attorney General.
• Inducements. Section 157 bars offers aimed at a person or a specific group, which would catch tailored free bets. Whether it is commenced has not been confirmed.
• National Gambling Exclusion Register. One sign-up to block yourself from every licensed operator. Not operational yet; self-exclusion is still done with each firm.
• Social Impact Fund. Paid for by licensees to fund research and treatment; the contribution rate has not been set.

The National Lottery is regulated separately

The National Lottery sits outside the 2024 Act. It runs under the National Lottery Acts 1986 and 2013, is operated by Premier Lotteries Ireland under a 20-year licence awarded in 2014, and is overseen by the Regulator of the National Lottery. There is no Irish body called a national lottery authority. Draw results appear on our Lotto pages via the official feed.

All of this is for adults only: gambling in Ireland is 18+, and that applies to Lotto tickets too. If the habit is costing more than it should, our responsible gambling page has checked help services.