Irish Online Betting Turnover Hits Record €911m as GRAI Licences Begin
Online betting turnover in Ireland reached a record €911.2 million in the first quarter of 2026, according to Betting Duty data published by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.
That is the highest quarterly figure in a series that runs back to 2015, and it lands in the same year that the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) started licensing remote operators.
The total covers stakes placed with licensed bookmakers by remote means, mainly online and by telephone, between January and March 2026. It is up from €875.7 million in the final quarter of 2025 and edges past the previous high of €876.4 million set in early 2025.
Anyone comparing online betting sites in Ireland is now doing so in a market that has shifted decisively online.
Online Now Outpaces The Betting Shops
Retail betting told a steadier story. Traditional in-person turnover was €570.3 million in the first quarter, broadly in line with the €552.4 million recorded in the previous quarter and little changed across the past two years. Online stakes now run at roughly 1.6 times the value of bets placed in betting shops.
Licensed bookmakers pay a 2% Betting Duty on stakes from customers in Ireland, while betting exchanges pay a 25% Betting Intermediary Duty on their commissions. Remote operators accounted for €18.2 million of the €30.1 million in Betting Duty collected in the second quarter of 2026, the period in which first-quarter returns fall due, as Revenue's figures show.
A New Licensing Regime Takes Hold
The record quarter coincides with a change in who oversees the market. On July 1, 2026, the GRAI's remote betting and betting intermediary licences commenced, the first operator licences issued under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024.
In-person betting licences are due later in the year, with gaming, lottery, business-to-business, charitable and philanthropic licences opening across 2027 and 2028. Licences covering online casino play therefore sit further down that phased timetable.
"The commencement of licences for remote betting operators establishes a clear and robust regulatory regime for the gambling sector, strengthening Ireland's reputation as a well-regulated market," Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan said as the licences took effect.
New Protections For Online Bettors
Operators licensed by the GRAI must now meet obligations aimed at protecting customers. These include age verification to prevent underage gambling, a ban on offering credit or accepting credit cards, a duty to pay out winnings and rules on closing accounts when a customer asks.
The authority can investigate operators, apply sanctions and act against unlicensed activity, which remains a criminal offence.
GRAI chief executive Anne Marie Caulfield said the regulator had started with the largest part of the market. "As of today, consumers in Ireland have important new protections when they bet online or over the phone," she said, warning that unlicensed sites remove oversight and increase the risk of harm.
A Sharper Focus On Harm
The scale of play has sharpened the focus on that harm. Research from the Economic and Social Research Institute, used in the GRAI's first public awareness campaign, found that problem gambling in Ireland is about ten times more common than earlier surveys had suggested.
What Happens Next
For bettors, the practical change is simple: every operator taking online bets from Ireland now sits inside a licensing regime with enforceable safeguards, and our reviews of licensed operators reflect those standards.
The next markers to watch are the arrival of in-person licences later in 2026 and any move to revisit the 2% duty rate, which some public representatives argue is too low given how fast the online market is growing.
