THE VALUE OF regulated online betting in Ireland has breached the €1 billion mark in a single quarter for the first time, in the same period that the value of traditional betting hit a sharp decline. 

Figures released by Revenue show that in the first quarter of this year, online betting turnover subject to the 2% betting duty tax exceeded €1.2 billion. 

That’s up from €814.8 million in the previous quarter.

The value of traditional betting turnover in the same period dropped from €552.4 million to €276.5 million in the same period. 

The last time traditional betting turnover decreased so dramatically was during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Two traditional ‘in-person’ traders exited the market between quarters (bringing the total number of traditional traders paying the levy to 15), the figures show, while the number of online or ‘remote’ betting traders stayed at 66. 

The Irish Bookmakers Association told The Journal that the figures follow on from a string of betting shop closures.

The representative association warned that as the market continues to shift towards online betting, more closures will come – and claimed that the impact of incoming regulations from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland could see traditional betting decline further. 

Ireland remains one of the lower-tax jurisdictions for online betting. Licensed bookmakers pay a 2% betting duty on stakes placed by Irish customers, while betting exchanges pay a 25% intermediary duty on commissions.

The UK taxes remote gambling operators on gross profits rather than turnover, with remote gaming duty having risen to 40% in April 2026 and a new 25% duty due to apply to most remote betting from 2027.

Tax rates vary significantly across Europe, but many major markets, including the UK, France and Spain, impose substantially higher effective tax burdens.

The Department of Finance did not respond when asked whether an increase to the rate is currently under consideration.

Professor Colin O’Gara said that the “astronomical” pace of growth in the online gambling space means that the Government and the Online Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland have a “tough task” ahead of them when it comes to enforcing regulations, and dealing with the impact of online gambling on people’s lives. 

O’Gara, who is a professor at UCD specialising in gambling addiction, said that online bets to the value of €1.2 billion in a single quarter are just “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of the money that is actually being exchanged online. 

“Really, the story is here, if that figure is so high, what kind of revenues are being generated by unregulated actors. But there is an argument that if regulators go too hard on the gambling platforms that are regulated, they run the risk of driving everything underground,” he said. 

O’Gara said that the emergence of Polymarket – where players buy and trade contracts with each other – as opposed to with a traditional bookmaker – where punters essentially trade on the probability of future sporting, political and financial world events – also presents a challenge.

He said it is unclear whether these should fall under a financial regulator or the gambling regulator. 

He also said that there now needs to be a move to clamp down on “cross-offerings”, and things like “free spins” being offered to online players. 

“A young man will usually go online to bet on their sports team, and they’ll be offered cross-offerings for casino products – particularly online slots, which are dubbed the crack cocaine of online gambling… it’s an issue of hyper-stimulation,” he said. 

(Cross-offering is when an online gambling operator encourages players to try different products, such as moving from sports betting to casino games, within the same platform.)

Sinn Féin spokesperson on addiction Ann Graves told The Journal that “limitless online gambling” is “ruining people’s lives”, and that the government needs to “wake up to the scale of the problem”. 

She said that her party is calling on the government to increase the betting duty tax on online bookmakers and casinos, but she added that tax “is only part of the answer”. 

“We need stricter regulation on these corporations and their practices,” she said.

Frank Houghton, social sciences lecturer at the Technical University of Shannon also specialises in gambling addiction. 

He said that Ireland is seeing a “one way trajectory” towards online gambling, that is evidenced by a significant growth in National Lottery online sales. 

Houghton said he is hugely concerned that young people under the age of 18 are participating in online gambling, and that regulations in this area are not being enforced. 

“Two of my kids are seeing their social media accounts regularly bombarded by online gambling ads, online gambling has now occupied that space that tobacco used to be in,” he said. 

He said that a higher rate of betting duty tax is needed “as a disincentive” and also of a means of “accruing funds to support the addiction supports people currently need and are going to need.” 

The Gambling Regulation Act gives the regulator powers to restrict or prohibit inducements such as free bets and free spins, and introduces some of Europe’s most far-reaching planned controls on gambling advertising.

However, several of the act’s advertising and inducement provisions are being introduced on a phased basis, meaning the full regime has yet to take effect.

(Inducements that will be limited by the act include free bets, free spins, bonus credit and money-back offers).  

Recent research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), funded by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland, found that gambling inducements such as free bets and money-back guarantees caused participants to spend more than 10% extra and almost halved the number of people who chose not to gamble.

The study concluded that people already at risk of problem gambling were particularly susceptible to such offers.