The Gambling Control Bill was approved by Government in July 2013. This Bill will, upon enactment, repeal all extant gaming and betting legislation, with the exception of that governing the National Lottery.
The General Scheme of the Bill is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government (OPC) awaiting drafting.
The Betting (Amendment) Act 2015 was commenced on 15th April 2015. This legislation amends the Betting Act 1931 and provides for the licensing of remote (on-line) bookmakers and betting intermediaries for the first time.
Applications for certificates of personal fitness from remote operators, and terrestrial bookmakers not ordinarily resident in the State, are to be made to the Minister for Justice, following the placement of an advertisement in two daily, national newspapers. The advertisement and the application form are to be in a specified format. You can access these below:
Application for CPF terrestrial out of State (PDF 148KB)
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Applications for certificates of personal fitness from terrestrial bookmakers ordinarily resident in the State are to be made to a Superintendent of An Garda Síochána. The newspaper advertisement and application form for such operators can be accessed below:
Newspaper Ad terrestrial Irish operators (PDF - 195KB)
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Application for CPF terrestrial Irish operators (PDF - 367KB)
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The application form in all instances details the information that is to be submitted in support of an application. It should be noted that an application will not be considered until such time as all such information has been received.
- "relevant officer" of a corporate body is defined in section 1 of the 1931 Act as amended by section 2 of the 2015 Act. The first category of person who must apply for a certificate of personal fitness is he or she who exercises control (within the meaning of section 11 or 432 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997) in relation to the corporate body. In addition to such persons, corporate bodies may choose that an individual in either the second or third category of person as defined in section 1 applies for a certificate of personal fitness. The legislation does not require all three categories of person to be deemed a "relevant officer".
The Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956–2003 allow some limited forms of gambling. This is in order to provide a controlled outlet for people who wish to gamble. It also provides a method of fund-raising for charitable, philanthropic and other socially desirable purposes.
The forms of gambling permitted under the 1956 Act are:
Lotteries (excluding lotteries covered by the National Lottery Act 2013 , which is under the auspices of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform)
A very limited form of gaming ('gaming' means playing a game (either of skill or chance) for money.)
For more information on gaming and lotteries, see the Review of the Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956-86 . A copy of the 1956 Act is included in the review document.
The Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Act 2019 , will come into effect on 1 December 2020. Information Notes for Gaming and Lotteries are available here: Information Notes for Gaming and Lotteries
Information notes for relevant licences and permits can be found here: Information Notes for Gaming and Lotteries
The Casino Regulation Committee was set up in August 2006 and its report was published in July 2008 under the title Regulating Gaming In Ireland (PDF - 2.11MB)
A paper entitled Options for Regulating Gambling published in December, 2010, represented the culmination of a public consultation undertaken by the Department as part of an overall review of gambling in Ireland.
The scheme has now ceased to operate.