High Court proceedings have begun against a prediction market firm, the head of the Gambling Regulator Authority of Ireland (GRAI) has said.
Global prediction markets allow people to speculate and forecast the outcomes of future real-world events.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Anne Marie Caulfield refused to name the company but said it was “one of the largest prediction market operators in the world who was operating here in Ireland.”
Another well-known prediction market company has geoblocked Ireland since the GRAI got in touch about regulation.
“For the vast majority of cases where we’ve intervened, they [global prediction market companies] have withdrawn their sites,” Ms Caulfield said.
“But in the instance where they don’t do so, we can go to the High Court and get a blocking order for them, a blocking order for access to the site and also in relation to the funding involved.”
The GRAI have already issued warning letters.
On Friday, France’s gambling regulator instructed internet service providers to geoblock Polymarket, one of the largest prediction market platforms in the world.
The GRAI does not yet have authority to do that although they are working with Coimisiún na Meán to get ‘trusted flagger status’ where sites they suspect are non-compliant with regulations can be removed.
The GRAI began issuing licenses at the start of this month, taking over the process from Revenue.
Ms Caulfield said the process is an “onerous” one. It includes vetting the company’s financial standing, protecting personal data and consumer protection standards.
This year the GRAI will regulate remote gambling and will move to regulation gaming platforms next year.
“Once those sectors are licensed with us, a whole swathe of protections start to stand up in terms of consumers,” Ms Caulfield said.
She cited examples including consumers setting gambling limits and banning the use of credit cards.
She added: “If any of the operators are not adhering to the legislative requirements, it’s open to us to impose fines of up to up to €20m, 10% of their turnover or to revoke part of their license, to suspend their license, to take their license back from them entirely.
“These are new sweeping powers,” she said, “they’re a fundamental overhaul of the existing system.
“We are standing up our compliance regime. in order to go out and to inspect and to make sure that is happening.”
Social Impact Fund
As part of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, a Social Impact Fund will be introduced.
The fund will be a major public investment in prevention, education, treatment, recovery and research related to gambling harm in Ireland, funded through a levy on the gambling industry.
Two years on from the Gambling Regulation Act, the rate of contribution and the time frame in which the fund will open are yet to be announced by the Department of Justice.
In the meantime, Ms Caulfield said the GRAI is working on it in the background.
“”What we’re prioritising for this year is disbursements and funding in relation to treatment. So helplines, residential community care and assistance for people suffering from gambling harm.
“Next year we’ll move on to research, funding for research and also education awareness programmes.”
The GRAI began its first public health campaign aimed at parents this week. The campaign aims to show parents and guardians the warning signs that their children may be gambling.
“Where a child gambles under the age of 18, they are twice as likely to develop harmful gambling in later life,” Ms Caulfield said.
Research from the ESRI found that one in 30 adults in Ireland suffer from problem gambling.
In a statement, to RTÉ’s This Week, the Department of Justice said the provisions of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 “are being rolled out on a phased basis”.
“Work is ongoing between the Department and the Office of the Attorney General with regard to the contributions that will be payable by licensees and further regulations in that regard will be made in due course.”
Advertising
The Gambling Regulation Act will also regulate gambling advertising when it is enacted. A watershed of between 5.30am to 9pm will be in place.
Legislation on this and restricted targeted inducements have yet to be enacted, but Ms Caulfield said that the GRAI is expecting an announcement on that “soon”.
“It will restrict targeted inducements. So for example, if somebody in the past was exhibiting the signs of harmful gambling, sometimes they get free bets as they’ve tried to step back from that, so the legislation will outlaw that.”
Since June 2025, the Advertising Standards Authority has received 28 complaints against gambling products and services.
In a statement to RTÉ’s This Week, the ASA said both it and the GRAI “share the objective of ensuring that gambling advertising is responsible and complies with applicable regulatory requirements.”
