The gambling regulator warned it would have to stall key reforms due to a funding shortfall, including regulating “totally unlicensed” remote gaming and overseas-based black-market gambling.
In a letter to Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan earlier this year, the newly established Gambling Regulatory Authority said it had been given just half the budget allocation it sought for 2026.
It said the shortfall would have “a significant impact on the pace at which [it] will regulate gambling in Ireland, thereby lessening the impact that it will have in the short term”.
It said it would not be possible to progress its plans to regulate the gambling industry – which it said had a turnover of between €12 billion and €14 billion annually.
