Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner
The Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner is the statutory regulator that supervises gambling licence holders in or from Gibraltar, monitors their compliance and takes enforcement action when they breach the rules. Under the Gambling Act 2025, which replaced the Gambling Act 2005 from 1 April 2026, the Commissioner does not grant licences. That decision belongs to the Licensing Authority, the responsible Minister, while the Commissioner works through the Gambling Division of HM Government of Gibraltar.
What the Commissioner does under the 2025 Act
Section 7 of the Gambling Act 2025 lists the Commissioner’s functions, which include supervising licence holders, monitoring compliance with the Act and its codes, and acting against anyone carrying on gambling business from Gibraltar without a licence.
The Commissioner is also the anti-money laundering supervisor for the sector, and the Gambling Division publishes an AML Code that licence holders follow when they run KYC and source-of-funds checks. Part 8 of the Act adds administrative penalties, cease-and-desist orders and suspension orders to the enforcement toolkit.
Decisions can be challenged before the Gambling Appeals Tribunal set up under section 141, a route the 2005 Act did not have.
What a Gibraltar licence means for Irish players
Readers often treat the Commissioner and the Licensing Authority as one body, and operator footers rarely make the split clear. The register of licence holders on the Gambling Division website is where you should confirm that a named company holds a Gibraltar licence.
A Gibraltar licence is a Gibraltar licence, and it is not a licence from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024. If a dispute arises, the complaints route is the one the Commissioner publishes, not the GRAI’s.
