The Irish Office of the Revenue Commissioners

While online gambling is hugely popular in Ireland, it wasn't until 2015 that the Government focused on the blossoming growth of the industry with the Betting (Amendment) Act.

As such, as of 2022, there are currently only a handful of online casinos directly licensed by the Irish Office of the Revenue Commissioners. However, this is a number that is expected to grow in the coming years as the regulatory changes introduced in 2015 come into effect.

Any business which uses remote means to provide a gambling service, whether that be telephone betting or in an online casino, for example, is required to hold a valid Irish gambling license or a gambling license from a trusted global authority.

What this means is even if an online casino isn't directly licensed by the Irish Office of the Revenue Commissioners, it is entirely legal as long as it is approved by a body such as the MGA or the UKGC.

Any online casino licensed by the Irish Office of the Revenue Commissioners will display the organization's seal and license number in a prominent place on its website.

As previously mentioned, regulation around online gambling in Ireland really only began to gather momentum in 2015. However, in the years since, the Irish Government has already started to put together a current licensing regime with the intention of more closely legislating the industry and encouraging online businesses to base themselves in Ireland and take advantage of the numerous benefits that it offers.

For any online casino looking to obtain a license from the Irish Office of the Revenue Commissioners, there are a number of criteria they must fulfill.

To begin the process, the company must be incorporated in Ireland, then a detailed description of the games set to be offered at the online casino must be submitted. There are also specific hardware requirements pertaining to the servers used to host the online casino. The minimum requirement is that the server with the organization's client database on it must be physically located in Ireland.

Going forward, regular financial audits are expected to be fulfilled to ensure the conditions of the license are being met.

The time from starting the process of obtaining a license for an online casino from the Irish Office of the Revenue Commissioners, to the approval stage, usually takes around three to six months, providing all the necessary procedures are followed.