Ireland has spent seven decades regulating gambling through legislation written before the internet existed. The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 replaces that patchwork — described by the Irish government as "historic" — with a single unified framework overseen by the newly established Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), operational since March 2025. Applications for B2C betting licences opened on 9 February 2026. Remote operator licences will issue from 1 July 2026. B2B supplier licences — the category that directly governs most iGaming development companies — follow in a later phase.
For any development company positioning for Irish market entry, or any operator evaluating a partner for a GRAI licence application, this creates a specific and time-sensitive challenge. The platform you build now will be audited by a regulator with, by law, the power to impose fines up to €20 million or 10% of annual turnover, pursue criminal sanctions including up to eight years' imprisonment for serious violations, and publicly disclose every contravention. The architecture decisions made during development — how the National Gambling Exclusion Register is integrated, how stake limits are enforced, how advertising compliance is managed at the platform level — will determine how that audit goes. This guide tells you exactly what those decisions need to be.
Why Ireland Is a More Complex Market Than It Looks
On the surface, Ireland appears to be a natural iGaming market: a digitally sophisticated population, a deep cultural connection to sports betting and horse racing, and a home-grown global champion in Flutter Entertainment — the world's largest gambling company by market cap, owning Paddy Power, Betfair, FanDuel, Sky Bet, and more, with trailing twelve-month revenue of $16.4 billion as of December 2025. That commercial heritage creates the impression of a well-established, navigable market.
The reality is more nuanced. Ireland's online gambling market is expected to generate approximately €1.2 billion in revenue by end-2025, with a projected 2.8 million players by 2029 — a sizeable market. But it is a market in active regulatory transition. Existing Revenue Commissioners licences for remote operators expire on 1 July 2026. In-person operator licences expire 1 December 2026. Every operator — whether a 30-year incumbent or a new European entrant — must transition to the GRAI framework on that timeline or cease operating legally.
The GRAI's James O'Kelly notes that around 30 to 40 operators held licences under the old regime, with new entrants adding to that base. For development companies, the immediate opportunity is the transition pipeline: operators rebuilding or upgrading platforms for GRAI compliance, established UK-facing brands applying for the Irish licence as a regulatory diversification play in the context of the UK's escalating iGaming duty, and domestic start-ups building for the first time within a proper regulatory framework.
The B2B licensing timeline adds a further layer of planning complexity. B2B licences — covering software providers, hosting platforms, odds providers, and those supplying gambling-related services — are a significant new requirement under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024. Previously, this type of licence was not required in Ireland at all. A development company currently supplying Irish-facing operators without a B2B licence has not, until now, been required to hold one. That changes. Any company providing gambling-related services to GRAI-licensed operators will eventually need B2B registration. Preparing documentation and governance processes now — before B2B applications formally open — is the correct positioning for any development company serious about this market.
The GRAI Licensing Framework: What Development Companies and Operators Must Know
The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 establishes three licence categories, each with distinct implications for iGaming development companies.
B2C Licences and the Phased Rollout
A Commencement Order signed by Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan on 4 February 2026 activated key provisions including the GRAI's enforcement and complaints functions. B2C betting licence applications opened via a dedicated operator portal on 9 February 2026. The rollout follows a structured schedule: remote B2C operators can be licensed from 1 July 2026, while in-person B2C operators transition from existing licences on 1 December 2026.
The application process is substantive. Operators must publish a Notice of Intention in a national newspaper 28 days before submitting. Detailed documentation is required covering the complete business structure, beneficial ownership, key personnel, licensing history in Ireland and abroad, financial records, and business plans. Beneficial owners and designated officers face personal "fit and proper" checks, criminal conviction disclosure, and tax clearance verification. Designated account officers may carry personal liability if offences occur under the Act, and the GRAI has emphasised that those officers must fully understand the seriousness of their responsibilities.
For development companies supporting operator clients through this process, the platform's technical architecture must be documentable in a form that the GRAI can assess as part of the operator's application. This is not a formality — the GRAI has stated it will carry out inspections and requires operators to demonstrate technical proficiency as a condition of licensing.
B2B Licences: What Development Companies Need to Understand Now
B2B licences are mandatory for suppliers offering gambling-related services or products, including software providers, hosting platforms, and those providing odds. The breadth of the B2B category is significant: risk and fraud management services, indispensable support and maintenance services, and online hosting services all fall within scope. A development company providing a white-label casino platform, a sportsbook engine, a KYC verification module, or a payment gateway to an Irish-licensed operator will require a B2B licence.
The application timeline for B2B licences has not been definitively fixed, but is expected to follow the B2C phase — meaning B2B applicants should anticipate an application window opening in 2026 or 2027. The strategic imperative is preparation: gathering the corporate governance documentation, compliance programme evidence, and technical capability records that the GRAI will require, so that a B2B application can be submitted without delay when the portal opens. Licence duration for B2C operators is intended to be three years, subject to review; B2B terms are expected to follow a similar structure.
Licence Fees
Application fees start at €10,000, with renewal fees scaling up to €200,000 depending on turnover. The GRAI confirmed that licensing fees and Social Impact Fund contributions will be proportionate to operator size and turnover, ensuring equitable treatment across the industry. For development companies advising operator clients on total cost of market entry, these fees sit alongside ongoing compliance costs, Social Impact Fund contributions, and the operational cost of maintaining GRAI-mandated technical integrations.
The Technical Build Requirements That Define GRAI Compliance
The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 establishes player protection requirements that every platform deployed to Irish-facing operators must implement technically. These are not operator-level policies — they are platform architecture requirements that a development company must build from the ground up.
The National Gambling Exclusion Register
The Act establishes a National Gambling Exclusion Register allowing players to voluntarily self-exclude from all licensed gambling platforms. Operators are required to check the register in real time; failure to suspend services to a registered self-excluded player constitutes a breach of licence conditions. For development companies, this is a core platform integration analogous to Germany's OASIS or Australia's BetStop. The register check must occur at login, not only at registration, and must handle the case where a player's exclusion status changes between sessions. Platforms that implement this as a registration-only check will fail compliance review.
Stake and Win Limits
The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 sets stake limits of €10 per game and win limits of €3,000 for gaming machines and live table games including blackjack and roulette. Similar restrictions apply to lotteries and bingo. No such restriction applies to sports betting. These limits must be implemented at the platform level — in the game engine itself, not merely as operator configuration settings that can be inadvertently misconfigured. A development company building an Irish-facing casino platform must enforce these limits in the core gaming logic, with the enforcement architecture documentable for GRAI inspection.
The distinction between product categories matters significantly for platform architecture decisions. Sports betting has no stake cap under the current framework, making it architecturally different from casino and gaming products. Development companies building unified platforms covering both verticals must implement product-level limit enforcement that applies correctly to gaming products without incorrectly limiting sports wagering.
Advertising Compliance as a Platform Responsibility
The Gambling Regulation Act prohibits gambling advertising on social media unless the recipient holds an account with the platform and actively follows the operator's social media. A watershed prohibition applies between 5:30 am and 9:00 pm for television, radio, and streaming services. Gambling advertisements must not target children, encourage excessive gambling, or mislead consumers about the financial advantages of gambling.
For development companies, the advertising restrictions create platform-level obligations beyond the advertising creative itself. The prohibition on loyalty schemes targeted at specific demographics — for example, inducements targeted at customers who follow a particular football team — means that CRM and promotional engines must be built to prevent demographic-targeted inducement delivery, not just rely on operator policies. Buy now, pay later payment methods are also prohibited, which is an integration requirement for the payment processing layer.
AML and KYC Architecture
Like every other regulated European iGaming market, Ireland requires robust KYC and AML workflows as a condition of operating legally. The GRAI requires operators to demonstrate the lawful origin of funds and implements the standard suite of identity verification, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity reporting obligations. Development companies must build GRAI-compliant KYC workflows that integrate identity verification at account opening and maintain ongoing monitoring — not as a post-build compliance addition but as core player account management architecture.
The European Accessibility Act, transposed into Irish law in June 2025, adds a further technical layer: platforms must meet accessibility standards for users with disabilities. For any iGaming development company building for Irish deployment, accessibility is not a design consideration — it is a legal requirement under EU law.
The Social Impact Fund Contribution Mechanism
All commercial B2C licence holders must make annual contributions to the Social Impact Fund, which finances problem gambling education, research, and treatment. The fund is managed by the GRAI, and contributions are proportional to operator size. Development companies building financial reporting infrastructure for Irish operators must ensure that revenue reporting is structured to calculate and document Social Impact Fund contribution obligations accurately. This is a reporting architecture requirement embedded in the platform's financial management layer.
For broader guidance on identifying the compliance red flags every player should check before depositing — and what platform-level transparency signals a responsible operator — our guide covers the player-facing indicators that compliance-ready platforms make visible by default.
Ireland as a B2B Development Hub: The Wider Commercial Context
Ireland's significance to the global iGaming industry extends well beyond its domestic market. The country's corporate tax environment, English-language workforce, EU membership, and concentration of major technology companies have made Dublin a natural headquarters location for global gambling operations. Flutter Entertainment is headquartered in Dublin; BoyleSports, the largest independent bookmaker in the UK and Ireland, is Irish; AK Bets has expanded internationally from an Irish base.
For development companies, Ireland's EU membership is a substantive commercial advantage. An Irish GRAI licence, once issued, carries the credibility of a modern EU-recognised regulatory framework — one that the GRAI has explicitly positioned as aligned with "modern expectations around player safety and financial crime prevention." The GRAI has signed Memoranda of Understanding with the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority and other European regulators through the Gambling Regulators' European Forum (GREF), establishing Ireland as a collaborative regulatory partner rather than an isolated jurisdiction.
UK tax turmoil has added a specific dynamic: iGaming duty in Britain moved from 21% to 40%, creating a $320 million EBITDA headwind for Flutter alone in 2026. That shift has pushed multiple established UK-facing operators to evaluate Ireland as a regulatory diversification option. Development companies that can support a smooth GRAI application process — with documentation-ready platforms, tested National Gambling Exclusion Register integrations, and stake-limit enforcement architectures already in place — are positioned to capture that transition demand.
What to Look For in an Irish iGaming Development Company
The GRAI framework is new, and the B2B licensing window has not yet opened. This means that genuine Irish-specific compliance experience is scarce, and the evaluation criteria must focus on what a development company can demonstrate rather than solely on what licences they currently hold.
Documented GRAI compliance readiness. Has the development company audited its platform against the Gambling Regulation Act 2024's technical requirements? Can it produce documentation covering the National Gambling Exclusion Register integration, stake and win limit enforcement, advertising compliance controls, and AML/KYC architecture? This documentation is what an operator needs to submit as part of its GRAI licence application — a development partner who cannot produce it is a liability in that process.
National Gambling Exclusion Register integration — built or build-ready. The register is not yet in full operation, but the GRAI is actively developing it. A development company that has designed its self-exclusion architecture to connect to a centralised national register — rather than only an operator-internal exclusion tool — is better positioned than one that will need to retrofit this integration.
Stake and win limit enforcement in game logic. Confirm that the €10 stake limit and €3,000 win limit for gaming products are enforced at the game engine level, with the enforcement architecture separable from sports betting products that carry no such restriction.
EU Accessibility Act compliance. Verify that the platform meets the accessibility standards required by the European Accessibility Act, transposed into Irish law in June 2025. This is now a legal requirement, not a design option.
Advertising compliance controls. The CRM and promotional engine must be capable of preventing demographic-targeted inducements and enforcing the prohibition on buy-now-pay-later payment methods. Confirm these controls are platform-level, not solely operator-configured.
Sportsbook capability for the Irish market. Horse racing is central to Irish gambling culture. A development company building a sportsbook for Irish-facing operators without strong horse racing market coverage — including ante-post, in-running where permitted, and race card data integration — is missing the market's primary vertical. For context on how operators approach sports betting site selection in comparable markets, the criteria applied to sportsbook infrastructure quality translate directly to Irish market evaluation.
GDPR and Irish data protection compliance. Platforms deployed to Irish players must comply with GDPR as transposed into Irish law, including the right to erasure, data portability, and breach notification obligations. Confirm that the platform's data architecture is built with these obligations embedded, not patched on.
Regulation, Safety and Responsible Gambling
The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 is, at its core, a public health statute. The Irish government described it as a public health measure from the beginning of the legislative process, and the GRAI has consistently framed its mandate around harm prevention rather than market management. Development companies operating in this environment must internalise that framing, not just comply with the technical specifications it produces.
The enforcement teeth are real. The Gambling Regulation Act contains over 30 criminal offences, a number carrying significant custodial sentences of up to eight years' imprisonment. Administrative fines of up to €20 million or 10% of annual turnover — whichever is greater — apply for non-compliance. The GRAI can apply to the High Court to block payments to unlicensed operators and their payment service providers, and can publicly disclose every contravention and sanction. This is not a light-touch regime.
The Social Impact Fund is a licence condition, not a voluntary contribution. Every commercial B2C licensee — and ultimately every B2B licensee — must contribute annually. Development companies whose platforms cannot accurately calculate and report Social Impact Fund contribution obligations are creating a compliance gap that sits with the operator but originates in the platform architecture.
The advertising watershed requires product decisions, not just policy decisions. The prohibition on gambling advertising between 5:30 am and 9:00 pm extends to streaming services and digital platforms subject to specific conditions around user accounts. Development companies building marketing technology for Irish-licensed operators must understand that the promotional mechanics they build — push notifications, in-session promotional triggers, CRM segmentation — must respect these restrictions by design.
Support resources for Irish players. For anyone in Ireland experiencing gambling-related harm, the following organisations provide free, confidential support:
- Gambling Care: gambling.ie — Ireland's dedicated gambling support service
- Problem Gambling Ireland: problemgambling.ie — helpline, counselling, and family support
- GRAI National Gambling Exclusion Register: grai.ie — self-exclude from all licensed Irish gambling platforms
Our responsible gambling guide provides further guidance on tools, limits, and when to seek support.
The GRAI's official portal hosts the current licensing application guidance, compliance obligations documentation, and the National Gambling Exclusion Register — the three most important reference points for any operator or development company engaging with Ireland's new framework.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the GRAI and why does it matter for iGaming development companies in Ireland?
The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) is Ireland's new central gambling regulator, established under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 and operational since March 2025. It replaces a fragmented system of oversight that relied on legislation from 1956. For development companies, the GRAI matters because it introduces — for the first time in Ireland — a mandatory B2B licence category covering software providers, hosting platforms, and businesses supplying gambling-related services. Any development company currently supplying Irish-facing operators without a B2B licence will be required to obtain one as that licensing phase opens. The GRAI also sets the technical standards — including the National Gambling Exclusion Register integration and stake/win limit enforcement — that all platforms deployed to GRAI-licensed operators must meet.
Q: When do existing Revenue Commissioners licences expire under the new framework?
Remote operator licences issued by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners expire on 1 July 2026. In-person operator licences expire on 1 December 2026. Operators must have transitioned to GRAI licences by those dates to continue operating legally. Development companies supporting operator clients through this transition should be helping them prepare GRAI applications now — the 28-day public Notice of Intention requirement means that the documentation process needs to begin well before the application is filed.
Q: What is the National Gambling Exclusion Register and how must it be integrated into a platform?
The National Gambling Exclusion Register is a centralised self-exclusion database established by the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, managed by the GRAI. It allows players to exclude themselves from all licensed Irish gambling platforms with a single registration. Operators are required to check the register in real time; failure to suspend services to a registered self-excluded player constitutes a breach of licence conditions. For development companies, this means the register check must be implemented at the platform's login event — not only at account registration — and must handle mid-session status changes. A self-exclusion architecture that only checks at registration will not satisfy the GRAI's requirements.
Q: What are the stake and win limits that Irish iGaming platforms must enforce?
The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 sets a stake limit of €10 per game and a win limit of €3,000 for gaming machines and live table games including blackjack and roulette. Similar restrictions apply to lotteries and bingo. Sports betting carries no stake cap under the current framework. These limits must be implemented in the game engine itself — not solely as operator-configurable platform settings — and the enforcement architecture must be documentable for GRAI inspection. Development companies building unified platforms covering both casino and sports verticals must implement product-level limit enforcement that applies correctly to gaming without incorrectly restricting sports wagering.
Q: Do iGaming development companies currently operating in Ireland need a GRAI B2B licence?
The B2B licensing phase has not yet opened as of April 2026, and is expected to follow the B2C phase during 2026 or 2027. However, the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 establishes B2B licensing as a mandatory requirement for any business supplying gambling-related services to GRAI-licensed operators. This includes software providers, hosting platforms, odds providers, and support and maintenance service suppliers. Development companies should prepare their governance documentation, compliance programme evidence, and technical capability records now so they can submit B2B applications without delay when the portal opens.
Q: What are the advertising restrictions that affect platform design under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024?
Gambling advertising is prohibited on social media platforms unless the recipient holds an account with the platform and actively follows the operator. A watershed prohibition applies between 5:30 am and 9:00 pm on television, radio, and streaming services. Targeted inducements based on demographics or interests — including VIP schemes targeted at specific sports fans — are prohibited. Buy now, pay later payment methods are also prohibited. Development companies must build CRM and promotional engines that enforce these restrictions at the platform level, not solely through operator policy.
Q: What are the penalties for non-compliance with GRAI requirements?
Administrative fines of up to €20 million or 10% of a licensee's annual turnover — whichever is greater — apply for non-compliance with the Gambling Regulation Act 2024. Criminal sanctions including up to eight years' imprisonment apply for serious breaches such as unlawful gambling operations or permitting child participation. The GRAI can publicly disclose all contraventions and sanctions, and can apply to the High Court to block payments to unlicensed operators and their payment service providers. The enforcement architecture extends to B2B suppliers — development companies whose platforms facilitate non-compliant operator behaviour are within scope of GRAI action.
Q: How does Ireland's corporate tax environment affect iGaming development companies?
Ireland's 12.5% corporate tax rate on trading income — one of the lowest in the EU — has historically made it an attractive domicile for international iGaming businesses. The combination of low corporate tax, English-language environment, EU membership, and proximity to both UK and European markets has made Dublin a significant hub for global gambling operations. For development companies, Irish domicile or an Irish registered office can strengthen GRAI licensing applications and facilitate smoother regulatory engagement. The GRAI's requirement for operators to demonstrate financial stability and lawful origin of funds also interacts with tax-efficient corporate structures — these should be reviewed with Irish legal counsel before any GRAI application is filed.
Q: What is Ireland's Remote Gaming Duty and how does it affect platform financial architecture?
From 1 January 2025, betting duty applies at 2% of turnover on all relevant bets placed by Irish customers. Remote betting intermediaries are subject to a 25% charge on commissions from Irish-facing services. Providers of e-gaming services are liable for VAT at the standard rate of 23% on retained stakes from Irish customers. Development companies building financial reporting infrastructure for Irish operators must ensure that turnover-based betting duty calculations and GGR-based VAT calculations are produced separately and accurately. Platforms that aggregate revenue data without product-level distinction will create tax reporting gaps that create liability for operators.
Q: What responsible gambling tools must be built into platforms serving Irish players?
The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 mandates a suite of responsible gambling tools for all GRAI-licensed operators. These include self-exclusion through the National Gambling Exclusion Register, deposit limits, stake and win limits for gaming products, and mandatory responsible gambling messaging in promotional communications. The GRAI has the authority to issue Codes of Practice adding further requirements as evidence and experience accumulates. Development companies should build platforms with configurable responsible gambling parameters — tools that can be updated administratively without a platform rebuild — to accommodate the GRAI's expected evolution of these requirements as the regulatory framework matures.
Sources & References
Gambling Regulation Act 2024 — irishstatutebook.ie — Primary legislation establishing the GRAI, B2C and B2B licence categories, National Gambling Exclusion Register, Social Impact Fund, advertising restrictions, stake and win limits, penalty provisions
GRAI (Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland) — grai.ie — Licensing application guidelines, B2C betting licence opening (9 February 2026), phased rollout schedule, enforcement and complaints framework
iGaming Business — igamingbusiness.com — "Ireland's iGaming reset: Can a new framework transform the market?" (March 2026) — market reaction, operator interest profiles, GRAI implementation commentary
McCann FitzGerald / William Fry / Arthur Cox — legal guidance on Gambling Regulation Act 2024 implementation — B2B licensing scope, advertising watershed obligations, GRAI enforcement powers
World Casino Directory / SBC News — Remote operator licence expiry dates (1 July 2026 remote, 1 December 2026 in-person), B2C betting application timeline, GRAI commencement order details