Gibraltar Licensing Authority

Gambling licences in Gibraltar are issued by the Licensing Authority, the designated Minister, while the Gambling Commissioner is the industry regulator. Both are assisted by the Gambling Division of the Ministry of Justice, Trade and Industry, which regulates remote (online) and land-based commercial gambling, carries out licensing for B2C, B2B, support services, holding companies, software supplier approvals and change of control, and collects licence fees and gambling duty. The Gambling Commissioner is also the sector's supervisor for anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing. The current licensing regime began on 1 April 2026 with a six-month transition period: existing licence holders are deemed licensed, while new categories of business had to notify the Gambling Division and apply for a licence.

The regime covers B2C gambling businesses managed or controlled in or from Gibraltar, B2B businesses in or from Gibraltar or supplying a Gibraltar entity, regulated individuals in key management functions, gambling marketing from Gibraltar, and companies holding more than a 25% share in a company that provides gambling outside Gibraltar. The B2C register lists bookmakers, gaming operators and betting intermediaries, including companies of the Entain, Bet365, Evoke / 888, Flutter and Playtech groups; the B2B register lists suppliers of gambling services, bookmaking and software such as Evolution NetEnt, IGT, PragmaticPlay, Play'N Go and Kambi, and a separate list covers marketing and affiliate services. A content provider working with a licence holder through an aggregator needs its own approval, and prediction markets have a separate Prediction Market Authorisation.

The application fee is paid on submission, and an application counts as made only once it is paid in full. The B2C annual fee is charged separately for betting and gaming, and a betting agent pays £50,000; in B2B an aggregator or platform adds £15,000 per extra vertical to its £85,000, direct integration costs £85,000, £50,000 or £20,000 by tier and outsourced services £50,000, while support licences cost £50,000 for marketing and affiliate services (£25,000 for marketing with sales under £200k), £50,000 for holding customer funds and £5,000 for relevant company ownership. A licence granted mid-year pays the annual fee from the start of the quarter in which it takes effect. A change of control notice costs £3,000 to £30,000 depending on complexity, content provider approval £1,000, regulated individual approval £500 for five years (£200 for a material change) and a duplicate document £50. The quarterly return is due by the 15th of the following month and the duty by the end of that month, a nil return is filed even without activity, and only chargebacks are deducted from the base.

The Licensing Authority has traditionally only considered blue chip companies with a proven track record in other jurisdictions, but it also considers appropriately funded start-ups and expanding operations relocating wholly or partly from other jurisdictions. Gibraltar deliberately keeps a low number of licence holders, all with a substantive presence close to the regulator; a licence holder's website shows its full name, its Gibraltar address and its licence details, with the Government motif as a live link to the Gambling Division website. Licensing includes due diligence on ultimate beneficial owners and the supply chain; software and equipment are tested by an approved independent testing house or in-house facility, with certification due before commercial use and within one year of the licence grant, and transaction records are kept for at least 5 years. General guidance is set out in the Generic Code and technical requirements in the Remote Technical and Operating Standards (RTOS), and the regulatory team carries out structured site visits.