On Thursday 26 June 2025, the Gibraltar Gambling Bill 2025 was formally published in the Gibraltar Gazette, making it available for discussion and consideration before Gibraltar’s Parliament. This key procedural step marks the beginning of the legislative journey for a bill that, if it successfully passes through all parliamentary stages and is subsequently enacted into law, will introduce profound changes, fundamentally departing from the Gambling Act 2005. This proposed legislation aims to transform Gibraltar’s regulatory approach from a primarily licensing-focused model to a comprehensive, risk-based, and highly supervised framework, reflecting our jurisdiction’s commitment to modernising its regulatory landscape for the evolving global gambling industry.
Key Differences and Material Changes from the Gambling Act 2005:
The Bill fundamentally differs from the Gambling Act 2005 in several critical areas, introducing significant material changes:
1. Regulatory Structure: Bifurcated Authority
- 2005 Act: A more unified or less distinctly separated regulatory structure.
- 2025 Bill: Establishes a clear bifurcated structure with the Authority as the dedicated licensing body and the Commissioner exclusively responsible for supervision and enforcement. This specialisation aims to enhance accountability and create a more agile regulatory response.
2. Scope of Regulated Activities: Broadened Net & New Categories
- 2005 Act: Primarily focused on traditional B2C (business-to-consumer) remote and non-remote gambling.
- 2025 Bill: Significantly expands the regulatory net to capture the entire gambling value chain. This includes:
- Explicit regulation of B2B remote gambling (e.g., software, platform, and service providers) both as a supplier of one’s own product / services or as an aggregator, thereby allowing limited sheltering arrangements.
- Specific regulation for gambling machine supply and servicing.
- Explicitly listing holding companies and companies managing customer funds as regulated activities.
- Personal licences for key persons.
- Introduction of a new B2C licence for a betting exchange/betting intermediary; or a betting agent. This notably brings Betting Agent services into the fold, covering investment-type services based on predicting event outcomes, defined as providing services to select or place bets using others’ funds (whether in trust or presented as an investment scheme).
3. Licensing Categories: Granular and Specialised
- 2005 Act: More generalised licensing categories.
- 2025 Bill: Introduces distinct, granular licence types: B2C Gambling Operator’s Licence, B2B Gambling Operator’s Licence, and a new Gambling Operator Support Services Licence (covering marketing/advertising and Relevant Company ownership). This segmentation allows for tailored regulation across different operational segments and materially widens the net for those requiring a licence to supply into Gibraltar. In tandem with this will be a tiered licence fee structure allowing for lower fees for smaller scale operators and suppliers.
4. Extra-Territorial Reach: Enhanced Oversight
- 2005 Act: Primarily focused on operations physically conducted from Gibraltar.
- 2025 Bill: Significantly expands extra-territorial reach. It now captures suppliers of any services covered by the B2B or support services categories that are provided to Gibraltar licensed entities from outside Gibraltar. Likewise, any activity from Gibraltar providing facilities for gambling or associated services (including marketing), even if targeted at non-Gibraltar licensed persons, will require a licence. This also includes Holding Companies under the support service licence.
5. Licensee Requirements: More Holistic Substance Requirements
- 2005 Act: General requirements for infrastructure, operational presence and fitness.
- 2025 Bill: Imposes much broader Threshold Conditions (detailed in Schedule 2) for both initial licensing and ongoing compliance (sections 31 to 54, relating to Sufficient Substantive Presence). A pivotal new requirement is the demonstration and maintenance of a Sufficient Substantive Presence in Gibraltar, demanding tangible economic contributions (jobs, tax revenue) and genuine operational activity, moving beyond minimal presences. The proposals lay the ground for more proportionate presence requirements depending on the licence type and scale of business. It will also allow for a more holistic approach, trading expensive local technical infrastructure set ups with presence in the form of staff and offices.
6. Individual Accountability: Regulated Individuals
- 2005 Act: Less explicit individual accountability.
- 2025 Bill: Introduces a comprehensive framework for Regulated Individuals (sections 55 to 77). Key management roles and individuals exercising significant influence must now be approved by the Commissioner, undergoing fit and proper tests. This elevates personal accountability and strengthens governance.
7. Control Over Licence Holders: Stricter Ownership Scrutiny
- 2005 Act: Less detailed provisions for changes in ownership and control.
- 2025 Bill: Establishes a robust framework for regulating changes in control (sections 78 to 97). This includes extensive prior notification obligations for acquiring even 5% of shares, detailed assessment procedures for suitability and financial soundness, and strong enforcement mechanisms.
8. Enforcement Powers: Broader and More Robust
- 2005 Act: Possessed investigatory and sanctioning powers, but perhaps less comprehensive.
- 2025 Bill: Grants significantly expanded information gathering and investigatory powers (sections 98 to 113, Commissioner’s new monitoring & supervision powers) and a comprehensive suite of Common Sanctioning Powers (sections 114 to 144, Commissioner’s new enforcement powers). This includes administrative penalties, public statements, suspensions, and prohibitions, with clear criteria and the ability to act swiftly in urgent cases. It also introduces Special Remedies enforceable through the Supreme Court.
9. Fees Structure: Proportionate and Tiered
- 2005 Act: Fees are generally less tailored (e.g., £100,000 for remote licences and £85,000 for B2B suppliers).
- 2025 Bill: While the Bill itself defers specific figures to regulations that will follow, our understanding is that these regulations to follow are likely to prescribe a segmented and proportionate approach to licensing fees.
- Marketing and Support Services: Specific Regulation
- 2005 Act: Marketing services were likely less explicitly regulated under a dedicated licence.
- 2025 Bill: Marketing will require a Support Service Licence unless the marketing is provided by a group company already licensed in Gibraltar. It’s likely such licences will be restricted to suppliers to Gibraltar licensed operators or those with major established Gibraltar footprints. Marketing provided from Gibraltar subsidiaries with minimal presence to group companies outside Gibraltar (often for VAT savings) will most likely be refused a marketing support licence should the Bill be enacted into law.
11. Definition of Gambling Machines: Potential Inconsistency
- 2005 Act: Traditional definitions.
- 2025 Bill: Introduces a new definition of gambling machines that includes games where the result is predetermined or determined wholly or predominantly by chance. This differs from the traditional games of chance definition and may lead to discussions for alignment.
12. Transitional Provisions
- 2005 Act: No longer relevant in a transition context.
- 2025 Bill: Includes comprehensive Transitional Provisions (section 176 and Schedule 8) to ensure continuity for existing licences, outstanding applications, and newly regulated activities, providing grace periods for compliance with new requirements like regulated individuals.
The Gambling Bill 2025, if it successfully navigates the parliamentary process and is enacted into law, represents a fundamental shift towards a more sophisticated, proactive, and internationally aligned regulatory regime. It addresses the complexities of the modern gambling industry by widening its scope, increasing accountability for both entities and individuals, introducing a more granular and proportionate fee structure, and bolstering enforcement capabilities, all aimed at solidifying Gibraltar’s reputation as a well-regulated global gambling hub.
Please contact Ramparts’ Betting & Gaming Team if you would like to discuss any changes included in the Gambling Bill 2025.