A Gibraltar online gaming licence is now granted under the Gambling Act 2025, which has been in force since 1 April 2026. The Minister responsible for gambling, acting as Licensing Authority, issues B2C, B2B or support-services licences, and the Gambling Commissioner supervises licensees. Annual B2C fees run from £50,000 to £200,000 depending on yield, duty is 0.15% above a £100,000 exemption, and the Authority expects real substance in Gibraltar.
At a glance
| Item | Position as of October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Governing law | Gambling Act 2025, in force since 1 April 2026 (sections 55–77 not yet commenced) |
| Who licenses | The Minister as Licensing Authority; the Gambling Commissioner supervises |
| Licence classes | B2C operator, B2B operator, Gambling Operator Support Services |
| New B2C application fee | £30,000 (betting or gaming) |
| Annual B2C fee | £50,000, £100,000 or £200,000 per licence, by annual gross yield |
| Gambling duty | 0.15% of gross gaming or betting profit; first £100,000 exempt |
| Corporate tax | 15% standard rate since 1 July 2024 |
What changed with the Gambling Act 2025?
The Gambling Act 2025 replaced the Gambling Act 2005. The Bill was published in June 2025 and went through Parliament in March 2026. It was brought into operation on 1 April 2026 by Legal Notice 2026/064, except for sections 55 to 77. Those sections set up the regulated individuals regime and are waiting for their own commencement notice.
Some trade press in late 2025 reported that the Act had started on 1 October 2025. That was the date expected when the Bill was published. The official commencement notice gives 1 April 2026, and you should work from that date.
The Act moves Gibraltar to licensing by regulated activity. The main changes for founders are:
- Wider scope. B2B suppliers, betting exchanges and intermediaries, marketing services carried on in or from Gibraltar, holding companies of licensees and customer-fund handling all fall within licensing.
- Separate remote and non-remote licences. One licence covers either remote or non-remote gambling, not both.
- Threshold conditions. These include a sufficient substantive presence in Gibraltar, which the applicant must have and keep.
- Tiered fees. Smaller operators pay less, set by regulations made under the Act.
- A Gambling Appeals Tribunal. It hears challenges to licensing and enforcement decisions, alongside a wider range of graduated sanctions.
The Minister also has power to bring new gambling models into scope. He has already used it for prediction markets, which now have their own regulations and fees (LN.2026/176 and LN.2026/316).
Which licence do you need?
Section 17 of the Act lists the regulated activities and groups them into three licence classes.
| Licence class | Typical holders |
|---|---|
| B2C Gambling Operator’s licence | Online casinos and sportsbooks, lotteries, betting exchanges, betting intermediaries and agents |
| B2B Gambling Operator’s licence | Platform suppliers, game aggregators, game studios integrating directly with licensees, outsourced fraud, compliance and ID verification providers |
| Gambling Operator Support Services licence | Marketing and affiliate businesses in or from Gibraltar, holding companies of licensees, non-bank holders of customer funds |
A group often needs more than one licence. A B2C operator running both a sportsbook and a casino pays a fee for each vertical. A Gibraltar holding company above a licensee needs a “relevant company ownership” support licence.
The edges are not always clear. Advisers flagged uncertainty about intra-group marketing, teams split across several jurisdictions, and hybrid B2B and B2C models. As of October 2026 we found no published guidance from the Gambling Commissioner on these scope questions; the most recent code we found, the Commissioner’s AML code for remote gambling, dates from January 2026. Get a written view from the Gambling Division before you build a structure on assumptions.
How do you get a Gibraltar online gaming licence?
Gibraltar has never been a quick-application jurisdiction, and the 2025 Act keeps the emphasis on reputation, substance and local investment. Expect a process along these lines.
1. Pre-application engagement
Approach the Gambling Division with a summary of your business, owners and plans for Gibraltar. Applications usually go through a pre-licensing stage before formal submission. Under the old regime, application fees were paid in two halves across these stages. The 2026 fee regulations end that split: the full, non-refundable fee is due when you submit the application, and the application does not count as made until it is paid.
2. Form and staff a Gibraltar entity
The licence holder is normally a Gibraltar company with local directors, a local office and senior staff. Our guide to setting up a company in Gibraltar covers incorporation and company managers.
3. Build the application pack
You will need a business plan with financial projections, source of funds and wealth evidence, fit-and-proper material on owners, directors and key staff, AML and counter-terrorist financing policies with a named MLRO, technical and player-protection controls, and details of your gambling equipment and hosting.
4. Assessment and grant
The Licensing Authority tests the threshold conditions, including substantive presence. It can attach conditions when it grants the licence. According to Hassans, the 2025 Act sets no standard licence term, so the Authority fixes the term in each licence; under the 2005 Act, licences typically ran for five years.
5. Approve key individuals
Once sections 55 to 77 commence, people in key roles will need approval from the Commissioner as Regulated Individuals. The fee is £500 for a five-year first approval. As of October 2026, no commencement notice for these sections appears on Gibraltar Laws, so check the current position before planning around a date.
There is no official processing time, and advisers describe timescales as variable. How quickly you move depends mainly on how complete your application is and how fast you answer questions, so ask your Gibraltar lawyers for a realistic estimate once the Gambling Division has seen your plans.
What does “sufficient substantive presence” mean?
Section 40 sets out what the Licensing Authority weighs. The factors include where the remote gambling equipment sits and how it is used, how many people the business employs in Gibraltar and in what roles, and the tax the business pays. Other relevant matters can also count.
In practice, this means a real office, decision-makers based in Gibraltar and key systems controlled from Gibraltar. A brass-plate company will not pass. The Act also treats some non-Gibraltar entities as operating from Gibraltar, for example where their day-to-day management happens there. Factor this into your group structure and its corporate tax position.
How much does a Gibraltar gaming licence cost?
The Gambling (Duties and Licence Fees) Regulations 2026 (LN.2026/065), made under the Act, set the official fees. They revoked the Gambling (Fees) Regulations 2016.
| Licence | Application fee | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| B2C betting or gaming, gross yield under £20m | £30,000 | £50,000 per licence |
| B2C betting or gaming, £20m–£300m | £30,000 | £100,000 per licence |
| B2C betting or gaming, over £300m | £30,000 | £200,000 per licence |
| Betting intermediary | £15,000 | £100,000 |
| Lottery operator | £20,000 | £100,000 |
| Gaming aggregator or platform supplier | £20,000 | £85,000, plus £15,000 per extra vertical |
| Direct integration (game supplier) | £10,000 | £20,000, £50,000 or £85,000 by tier |
| Marketing or affiliate services | £8,000 | £50,000 (£25,000 if annual sales are under £200,000) |
| Relevant company ownership | £8,000 | £5,000 |
If you hold both a betting and a gaming licence, you pay both annual fees. A change of control notice costs between £3,000 and £30,000 depending on complexity. Approval of a content provider costs £1,000.
Professional fees, office costs and local salaries usually outweigh the licence fees. Legal and compliance support is quoted case by case, so get itemised quotes from Gibraltar gaming lawyers early, and see our guide to company set-up costs for the corporate side.
How is online gambling taxed in Gibraltar?
Gibraltar gambling duty is low. General gaming duty and general betting duty are each 0.15% of gross profit, and the first £100,000 is exempt. Betting intermediaries and agents pay 0.15% of gross intermediary profit with no exemption. Duty is paid in quarterly instalments on 1 April, 1 July, 1 October and 1 January.
Profits are also subject to Gibraltar corporate tax at the standard 15% rate, in force since 1 July 2024.
Duty in your customers’ markets is usually the bigger cost. Operators serving consumers in Great Britain need a Great Britain Gambling Commission licence and pay UK duties wherever they are based. HMRC raised remote gaming duty from 21% to 40% for accounting periods from 1 April 2026. A new 25% rate for remote general betting starts on 1 April 2027, with remote bets on UK horseracing excluded. Gibraltar’s government has said in Parliament that these UK changes are putting pressure on the sector.
What happens to existing licensees during the transition?
Schedule 8 sets out how the change works. On the provisions described by Gibraltar law firms:
- holders of 2005 Act licences are treated as licensed under the new Act until the Authority issues a new licence
- applications pending on commencement carry over as applications under the new Act
- businesses that only became licensable under the new Act get a transitional licence for six months, which continues while a complete application made in that window is decided
- individuals already approved by the Commissioner are treated as approved, and other key individuals get a 12-month window
Counted from 1 April 2026, the six-month window for newly licensable activities ended around the start of October 2026. If you are a B2B supplier, affiliate or holding company that has not applied, take advice now. ISOLAS and Hassans both read Schedule 8 as not requiring existing licensees to reapply by a set date, and a March 2026 Ramparts note confirms the six-month window runs from commencement. Those firm summaries were written on the Bill, so check the enacted Schedule 8 for your own position.
Does the 2026 UK–EU treaty affect gaming licences?
Not materially. The UK–EU treaty, which has applied provisionally since 15 July 2026, does not change the Gambling Act 2025, the fees or duty. It does not give Gibraltar operators any right to serve EU consumers either, because each EU market still licenses on its own terms.
The practical gain is people. With the border fence gone, recruiting and commuting across the frontier is simpler, which helps operators meet the substance test. See working across the frontier after the treaty and the wider licensed sectors hub.