Ireland's Gambling Regulation Act 2024 Outlines Plan for Mandatory Deposit Limits, Stricter ID Checks for Online Casinos

18 October 2026

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 establishes the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) to license and regulate betting, gaming, certain lotteries, and associated products or services in Ireland. The Act includes provisions that outline a regime of stricter regulation and consumer protection for the gambling sector, with a particular focus on safeguarding the interests of consumers who engage in online gambling.

The Act's stated purpose is to establish a licensing and regulatory regime that ensures public safety and well-being for gambling online and in person. To this end, the law provides for a range of measures, including the creation of a National Gambling Exclusion Register, a Social Impact Fund, and obligations on licensees relating to advertising, inducements, sponsorship, child protection, compliance, and enforcement.

One of the key provisions in the Act relates to online gambling and the ability for customers to set monetary limits on their gambling activities. The law allows the GRAI to limit the amount of money that may be lodged with a licensee, and requires licensees to provide customers with the ability to set limits on their online gambling. The Act also includes provisions allowing the GRAI to make regulations to set limits on the amount of money lodged online and the number of lodgements within a given timeframe.

These provisions are likely to form the basis of the proposed mandatory deposit limit regime for Irish online casinos. During pre-legislative scrutiny, the Joint Committee on Justice recommended that the General Scheme of the Gambling Regulation Bill provide for "the facility for mandatory spending limits and time limits to be set for online gambling". The committee also recommended that the "consumer" of gambling should be required to set a deposit limit when opening an online gambling account, and that these limits should be in euros and that the deposit limit should not be reset in a 72 hour period.

The requirement for online gambling accounts to be age-verified has also been a key area of focus for policy makers. The Act requires a person opening an online gambling account to supply documentation verifying that they are over the age of 18, and the GRAI may require other information or documentation to be provided.

Automated age verification software and a requirement for photo identification before any deposit can be lodged were recommended by the joint committee as part of its scrutiny of the Bill.

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 was commenced in phases, with the GRAI beginning operations from 5 March 2025. However, remote betting licenses are not due to become mandatory until 1 July 2026, following the phased implementation of the Act.

It is not yet clear whether or when online casinos and slots (referred to in the law as "remote gaming") will be required to be licensed under the new regime. Reporting by the Avondhu Press noted that bureaux of the regulator had not yet published a guidance document and no remote gaming licence of any kind had been granted in Ireland.

Critics have argued that the roll out of the GRAI and the implementation of its enforcement powers should be accelerated, particularly in relation to online gambling, where the potential for problems is greatest.

Regardless of the eventual licensing regime for remote gaming, the provisions in the Act that allow for the setting of mandatory deposit and spending limits, and the strict requirements around ID verification, mean that it is inevitable that reforms will be introduced in this area.

Whether the GRAI will decide to implement the mandatory deposit limit and 72 hour waiting period provisions, and the extent to which these provisions apply to remote gaming, is still unclear. But with the Act in force, and regulatory powers beginning to be exercised, the era of unregulated Irish online casinos is coming to an end, one way or another.