Ireland’s GRAI to consider tiered licensing fee model following industry pushback
The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) will consider five-year licences and a tiered licensing fee model, it has said in response to an industry consultation which raised concerns over the cost and timeframe of gambling licences.
Currently, in the 2024 Gambling Act, turnover for a business-to-business licence is defined as “the gross profit on the sale or supply of relevant gambling products or relevant gambling related services.”
Ireland’s gambling regulator was established under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 last year to manage the creation of Ireland’s gambling regulatory framework. It is also tasked with the awarding of licences for all Irish gambling activities, except for the national lottery.
GRAI has processed submissions to a public consultation it conducted over four weeks in April and May this year. This was the regulator’s first public consultation on its developing licensing and regulatory framework, which falls under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024.
GRAI received 27 submissions from a range of stakeholders, the “vast majority” of which came from industry operators.
Key concerns raised were the cost of the application fee and need for clarification around what the fee calculation system would look like.
Turnover-based fee system woes
Specific concerns over the currently proposed turnover-based fee system were raised, as the industry thought it would create a “disconnect between fees and actual operator revenue” and that it may harm those with specialised betting offerings in the market.
In its observations, GRAI said it would consider a tiered licensing fee model that would be based on gross gambling yield (GGY) or a hybrid of turnover (meaning gross profit in this instance) and GGY.
Operators expressed concerns that the baseline fee of €20,000 for a remote licence represented a “major” increase in the cost of the licence, compared to the current system.
The industry also raised concerns that the €1,200 fee per premises offering gambling was unfair as it applied to all premises regardless of size. The fee was seen to impact smaller operators disproportionately.
In response, the GRAI said it would consider a premises fee that related to the scale of operations. This may be done by assessing the number of gaming machines on site, for example.
Industry operators submitted that Ireland should review its fees in line with the UK. However, GRAI stated that the fees approach was not directly comparable to the UK due to various regulatory differences.
“Many of the regulatory obligations that will be part of the GRAI’s responsibilities are not part of the Gambling Commission’s remit in Great Britain and instead are part of the functions of the local councils,” GRAI stated.
Operators call for longer licence terms in Ireland
The Irish watchdog said in its report it would look at considering a five-year licence term, as opposed to three, which was initially proposed.
Industry operators and stakeholders had expressed a view that the licence duration was too short and was misaligned with other EU markets. Both France and Germany have five-year licence terms, while Greece is seven and Belgium stands at 10 years.
Submission to the report added that a three-year term would cause additional administrative burdens.
GRAI said it would also examine the possibility of offering longer licences to operators that demonstrated a history of compliance.
In its considerations, the regulator noted a need for more transparent communications as some of the submissions raised queries over definitions of financial terms like turnover.
The regulator said it would also look at publishing “clear and timely” guidelines on its policies for licence renewals.
The regulator asked the industry to register its interest in gambling licences on 27 March to measure the number of applicants. GRAI CEO Anne-Marie Caulfield told iGB in March that the authority was aiming to open formal applications for gambling licences before the end of the year.
“We anticipate that we’ll be able to open for betting licence [applications] both online and on-site [land-based] before the end of the year. And then we’re moving on to online gaming early in 2026 and then working our way through the other phases of licensing out to 2027,” Caulfield told iGB.
GRAI will issue three types of gambling licences: B2C, B2B and charity licences. However, it has noted that it does not believe it will be able to open charity licence applications this year.