The gambling and Casino Industry are huge in Ireland, and the Ireland government has granted slot operators and online casinos licenses to offer their platforms legally and provide a wide choice of payment methods.
Ireland has always had laws governing a variety of gaming activities. The three primary types of gambling that are differentiated under Irish legislation are betting, gaming and lotteries. Here’s all you need to know about them.
Betting
Betting The Betting Act of 1931, as revised by the Betting (Amendment) Act of 2015, governs gambling (the Betting Acts).
In Irish law, the term “bet” is not defined. The Betting Acts, on the other hand, state that “the word bet encompasses wager.” Even if case law is uncommon, the courts have been left to decide at common law what exactly qualifies as a bet.
Determining fixed odds against a future event, accepting bets on that event, and paying out winnings are all considered to be betting, according to the general agreement established by case law.
Gaming
The Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956–2019 serve as the primary legislative framework for gaming
According to the definition given in the Gaming and Lotteries Acts, gaming is defined as “playing a game (whether of skill or chance or partly of skill and partly of chance) for stakes hazarded by the players.” According to the definition of a stake, it includes “any payment for the right to participate in a game and any other kind of payment required to be paid as a condition of participating in the game, but it excludes a payment given purely for facilities supplied for the playing of the game.”
On December 1, 2020, the Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Act 2019 went into effect, bringing a number of amendments to the gaming legislation.
Lotteries
Lotteries are authorized by the Gaming and Lotteries act, but they are strictly regulated and subject to operational limitations. A lottery is defined as “any competitions for money or money’s worth including predictions or estimates of future events or of previous events the outcomes of which are neither yet ascertained nor generally unknown” under the Gaming and Lotteries Acts.
On December 1, 2020, the Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Act 2019 went into effect, bringing a number of modifications to the lottery legislation.
The National Lottery Act of 2013 (the 2013 Act), which repealed and amended the provisions of the National Lottery Act of 1986, regulates the Irish National Lottery instead of falling under the purview of the Gaming and Lotteries Acts. Following a competitive tendering process, the Irish government granted a 20-year license to a partnership that included An Post (the Irish post office) and was headed by Camelot, the UK national lottery operator, in 2013.
The most notable aspect of the 2013 Act is the creation of a new position, the Regulator of the National Lottery, whose primary responsibilities are to ensure that the Irish National Lottery is operated with all due ethics and propriety, to guarantee that the interest of participants is protected, and to ensure that the Irish National Lottery’s long-term sustainability.
Pari-mutuel/tote betting
The Irish Revenue Commissioners are authorized by the Totalisator Act of 1929 to establish and oversee the Totalisator6. The Irish Horse Racing Authority was given the authority to seek for and hold a totalisator license under the Irish Horse Racing Industry Act of 1994.
The Horse and Greyhound Racing Act of 2001 later transferred ownership to Horse Racing Ireland, and the license is currently held by Tote Ireland, a division of Horse Racing Ireland. The national greyhound board, Bord na gCon, is authorized to run totalizators at greyhound tracks.
Financial spread betting
The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (2004/39/EC) and the Central Bank of Ireland both regulate spread betting on financial instruments.
Prize bonds
Irish government prize bonds are subject to different regulations than other games of chance and lotteries. They are described as non-interest bearing securities in the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1956 as being “subject to such conditions as to repayment, redemption or otherwise as [the Minister] thinks fit and in relation to which chance may be used to select particular securities for prizes.”
The remote and non-remote pool betting licenses that are available from the UK Gambling Commission and can be used by operators to offer pool betting or fantasy sports products have no counterpart in Ireland. Instead, it would be necessary to examine the product’s characteristics to determine whether it could be classified as a bet or a game under Irish law if an operator in Ireland wishes to offer pool betting or fantasy sports products wherein the sum of money that successful customers won is determined by dividing the total pool (excluding commission) by the total number of winners.
Betting on Lotteries
In Ireland, there is no specific license required to wager on lottery results. Numerous operators provide these products to Irish customers in accordance with their remote or retail bookmaker’s license. There is presently no ban on wagering on the Irish National Lottery outcome.
The Irish government is now debating and considering the National Lottery Amendment Bill 20217. If the bill is passed, it will be illegal for bookmakers and other betting intermediaries to accept bets on the results of draws held by the Irish National Lottery or to facilitate such betting.
