Remote betting intermediary
A remote betting intermediary is a business that, in the course of business, provides a facility allowing one person to bet with another person by remote means, such as the internet, a telephone or television, without the intermediary itself being a party to the bet. In practice the term describes a betting exchange: the platform matches backers and layers, takes a commission and carries no liability on the outcome. Irish law has used the term since the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015, and the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 carries it forward under its own licensing regime.
What the term means in Irish law
Section 2 of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 defines a remote betting intermediary as a person who, in the course of business, provides a facility that enables another person to engage in betting with a person other than the intermediary, by remote means. The same Act defines remote means as any way of taking part in gambling other than in person, and it names the internet, the telephone and television as examples.
The wording replaced an almost identical definition that the Betting (Amendment) Act 2015 had inserted into the Betting Act 1931, where the licence itself was issued under section 7C of the 1931 Act.
Two further provisions give the definition its teeth. Section 3(1)(b) of the 2024 Act counts acting, or offering to act, as a remote betting intermediary as providing a betting activity, so the role falls inside the licensing regime rather than beside it. Section 69 goes further: it prohibits anyone from offering such a facility in person at all, and it allows the facility by remote means only under a remote betting intermediary licence, which section 85(1)(d) sets out as a distinct licence type that excludes pool betting.
The intermediary is a matchmaker, never a counterparty.
How an intermediary differs from a bookmaker
The term is most often confused with a remote bookmaker, and the difference lies in who carries the risk. Section 3(2) of the 2024 Act describes a bookmaker as someone who, in the course of business, sets odds, accepts bets and undertakes to pay out winnings, which means the bookmaker loses money when the punter wins.
An exchange does none of that on its own account. One customer backs a horse at a price, another customer lays it, and the platform holds the stakes and settles the matched bet between them while earning its money from a commission on winnings, at a rate that each exchange sets and publishes in its own terms.
That is why the law licenses the two separately, and why the tax differs as well. Revenue states that intermediaries continue to pay Betting Intermediary Duty, a charge distinct from the betting duty levied on bookmakers’ turnover.
Where the player meets it
A punter rarely sees the phrase on a betting site, because the exchange markets itself under its brand and the word “exchange”, while the legal label sits in the footer, the terms and conditions and the regulator’s register. Many brands run a sportsbook and an exchange side by side, and what I check first is which of the two the bet slip actually belongs to, since the licence, the commission and the complaint route can all differ between them.
The same word also turns up in Britain, where the Gambling Commission issues its own remote betting intermediary operating licence, but that licence covers customers in Great Britain and gives an Irish customer no Irish protection at all.
Who licenses exchanges serving Ireland
Revenue issued remote betting intermediary’s licences under the 2015 regime, and its own guidance now states that it no longer does so. From 5 February 2026, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland became the licensing authority for every form of betting licence, the intermediary licence included.
Section 238 of the 2024 Act handles the changeover, so that an application made under section 7C of the 1931 Act and still undecided at the relevant date is determined under that older Act, which means a licence issued that way remains a 1931 Act licence. Because transitional rules of this kind can leave an operator holding either an older Revenue-issued licence or a new GRAI one for a period, the useful question for a reader is never simply whether an exchange is licensed, but which authority issued the licence and under which Act.
A Malta Gaming Authority or Curaçao licence on the same brand does not answer that question, because neither regulator can hear an Irish complaint under Irish law. If you intend to use an exchange from Ireland, look up the operator’s name on the GRAI’s register before you deposit, and keep the licence number from the site footer so you can match the two.
A brand name on the register is not enough; the licensed company must be the one named in the terms you accept.
