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Licence · United Kingdom – Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland gambling law (no online licence)

Northern Ireland has its own gambling law, separate from Great Britain's. That law is the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, which covers only land-based betting, gaming, lotteries and amusements. There is no gambling regulator and no licence for online gambling. The courts and councils license most premises, the Department for Communities makes policy, and the police enforce. A 2022 Act updated some land-based rules. Reform of online gambling was left to a second phase that has not been brought forward, and Great Britain's Gambling Act 2005 and Gambling Commission do not cover Northern Ireland.

By , EditorUpdated 3 October 2026Checked against the regulator's sourcesHow we check
For players in Great BritainThe Gambling Act 2005, and with it the Great Britain Gambling Commission's licensing regime, does not extend to Northern Ireland: under s.361 only s.43 (chain-gift schemes) and s.340 extend to Northern Ireland, and all other provisions extend only to England and Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland's gambling law is the separate 1985 Order, which has no system for licensing online gambling. So there is no Northern Ireland licence that permits online gambling, and a Gambling Commission licence is a GB licence rather than a Northern Ireland one. Whether a particular online offer to people in Northern Ireland is lawful depends on Northern Ireland law, which this page does not try to settle. How to check a site.

Licence types

  • Bookmaker's office licences and betting on tracks, under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (licensed by the courts; track-betting licences by the Department for Communities)
  • Gaming in bingo clubs, gaming machine supply and use, amusements with prizes and society lotteries (courts and district councils)
  • There is no licence for online (remote) gambling: the 1985 Order deals only with land-based activity

What players get

  • Since 1 October 2023 it is an offence to invite, cause or permit a person under 18 to play a gaming machine (other than a lower-limit machine) (2022 Act, s.7)
  • Since 1 October 2023 a modernised cheating offence applies (2022 Act, s.13) and the Department can issue a statutory code of practice for gambling facilities (s.16)
  • No Northern Ireland-specific online player protections, self-exclusion scheme or complaints body set in law, because online gambling is not regulated by NI law

How to check a licence

There is no Northern Ireland online gambling licence or public register of online operators to check. A Great Britain Gambling Commission licence does not extend to Northern Ireland either. For betting shops, bingo clubs and similar premises, licensing is handled by the courts and district councils rather than a single online register.

Recent changes

  • 2022-04-26: Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 received Royal Assent: a first-phase reform of land-based gambling only (opening days, bingo club membership, gaming machine stakes and prizes, society lotteries, cheating, a levy power, codes of practice, enforceability of gambling contracts)
  • 2023-10-01: Commencement No.1 Order brought into force the under-18 gaming machine offence, the new cheating offence and the code of practice power
  • 2025-01-13: Gaming (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025 made by the Department for Communities, updating monetary limits under the 1985 Order
  • 2025-03-04: Gaming (Gaming Machines in Registered Clubs) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 came into operation

Context

The 2022 Act's own explanatory notes describe the 1985 Order as outdated, complex and inflexible, and say it has not kept pace with technology

The Assembly committee that scrutinised the 2022 Bill noted that the law applies only to land-based operations and that online gambling was left to a second phase of reform; the Department described phase 2 (covering online gambling and a possible regulator) as a matter for a future Minister and Executive

The committee noted that people in Northern Ireland are very likely to use the same online gambling sites as people in Great Britain

Not yet verified
  • Department for Communities web pages returned 403 and could not be read, so the current status of 'phase 2' reform (including any 2024-2026 consultation on online gambling or a regulator) was not checked from the Department
  • No 2024 amendment to the 1985 Order was found on legislation.gov.uk; the 2025 orders found were not read in detail (e.g. the new monetary limits)
  • Which other provisions of the 2022 Act are in force beyond those in Commencement Order No.1 was not checked
  • Whether, and how, offering online gambling to people in Northern Ireland is an offence under the 1985 Order was not established; the entry deliberately does not state a conclusion
We could not confirm these from a primary source, so we have not stated them as fact.

Sources

  1. legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1985/1204/contents
  2. legislation.gov.uk/nia/2022/14/introduction
  3. legislation.gov.uk/nia/2022/14/notes/division/2
  4. legislation.gov.uk/nia/2022/14/notes/division/3
  5. legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2023/74/made
  6. legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2025/2/made
  7. legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2025/22/made
  8. niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/committees/2017-2022/communities/reports/betting-gamin
  9. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/33
  10. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/36
  11. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/330
  12. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/361