NI Minister Rules Out Full Gambling Law Overhaul
Northern Ireland's Communities Minister, Gordon Lyons, has ruled out bringing forward a comprehensive overhaul of the region's gambling laws, telling the Assembly on September 29, 2026, that his department's focus will instead be on reviewing how effective the reforms introduced under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 have been, according to the Institute of Licensing, a professional body for UK and Irish licensing practitioners.
The Minister's comments came in response to an Assembly question from Sinn Fein MLA Philip McGuigan, who had asked for an update on work to bring forward effective gambling legislation from the start of the next Assembly mandate, a question listed on the Assembly's official order paper for that sitting.
What The 2022 Act Already Changed
The Department for Communities says the 2022 Act formed the first phase of a wider review of Northern Ireland's gambling laws. It introduced a new offence covering the inviting of under-18s to play gaming machines, updated cheating offences, and gave the Department power to issue gambling codes of practice for operators.
It also created a power to introduce a levy on land-based gambling operators to help fund support services for people experiencing gambling-related harm, though that levy power has not yet been brought into operation.
Why A Full Rewrite Remains Off The Table
Northern Ireland's gambling regime is still based primarily on the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, a law that predates online gambling and has no dedicated provisions for it.
Campaigners and some MLAs have pushed for a Great Britain-style framework, with an independent regulator modelled on the Gambling Act 2005, but the Minister's comments suggest any such change is not imminent.
Instead, the Department's review will examine whether the 2022 reforms have met their original objectives, including strengthening protections for consumers and tackling gambling-related harm, before any decision is taken on further legislative change.
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Wider Pressure For Reform
An all-party group inquiry into gambling-related harm reported in January 2025 with 57 recommendations, including calling for gambling to be formally recognised as a public health issue in Northern Ireland and for a ban on gambling advertising between 5.30am and 9pm.
The Department for Communities has said a public consultation on an initial gambling code of practice ran in late 2024, but the code itself has not yet been published, and the 2022 Act's levy power to fund treatment services has still not been brought into operation.
The contrast with the rest of these islands has sharpened the debate: Ireland's Gambling Regulation Act 2024 established an independent regulator, the Gambling Regulation Authority of Ireland, giving the Republic a modern single licensing regime, while Great Britain has operated under the Gambling Act 2005 for two decades.
Northern Ireland's Order 1985 remains the primary law governing sports betting, gaming, lotteries and amusements, with no dedicated framework for online gambling at all.
