Gibraltar’s 2025 Gambling Bill took its first legislative step forward today, moving the British Overseas Territory closer to a new era of licensing, regulation and standards for gambling businesses domiciled in the British Overseas Territory.
The legislation passed its first reading today and will now be moved to the second stage. If it subsequently passes the Committee stage and third reading, it will head to the Crown for approval, and replace the territory’s legacy 2005 Gambling Act.
Introduced in June last year, the bill has been engineered to overhaul the regulatory standards and business provisions of the 2005 Act – a framework that pioneered the regulation of online gambling licences for the UK and Europe.
The consultation of the Gambling Bill has been in the works for three years, with the initial discussions beginning in May 2022. The Bill underwent significant revisions as a compliance mandate from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) removed Gibraltar from the Moneyval grey list of high risk jurisdictions in February 2024.
The legislation was finally introduced by the Gibraltar government amid the intense debate around gambling taxation in the UK last year, ahead of the Autumn Budget in November 2025
Both the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner, Andrew Lyman, and other stakeholders in the local industry cited concerns that tax hikes would impact the territory’s economy due to the number of UK-facing gambling businesses registered and licensed there.
“We are working intensely and at pace to bridge as far as possible the gap created by the recent UK tax decision,” said Nigel Feetham KC MP, Minister for Trade, Justice and Industry in the Gibraltar government, during today’s reading.
“Whilst the corporate tax revenues, because of the UK tax changes, cannot be fully restored by the end of this year, through new entrants alone, the ongoing growth of the sector will create important future revenue streams.”
Today we passed the new Gambling Bill in Parliament.
In my address, I outlined our work at pace to respond to the UK gambling tax increases impacting our tax revenues.
It was important to me to also thank Ministry staff and colleagues for their sustained work and support. pic.twitter.com/ZejKc6Xtpc
— Nigel Feetham KC (@NigelMFeetham) March 18, 2026
Gibraltar’s need for a refresh
The government of Gibraltar will seek to establish its new regime under core pillars of economic compliance and technical enhancements.
Economic pillars include an expansion of licensing the full value chain and deepening the personal accountability of Senior Executives to hold a licence.
The technical pillars include a strengthening of the regulatory control of the Gibraltar Gambling Commission (GGC) and the application of investigations, risk-based enforcement and penalties on non-compliant businesses.
In January, Lyman told iGamingExpert that the forthcoming Gambling Bill would provide a new foundation for Gibraltar to expand its gambling sector beyond reliance on UK licences.
Despite contesting the UK government’s decision to increase Remote Gaming Duty to 40% from April, Lyman underscored that Gibraltar has no intention to “retrench from the global gambling sector.”
In parliament today, Feetham explained that the bill aims to preserve confidence in the gambling market, promote safe and fair gambling, prevent the industry from being a source of crime or being used to support crime, and support the wider Gibraltarian public interest.
He remained adamant that the 2005 legislation has achieved Gibraltar’s macroeconomic objectives’, sustainable economic activity, and regulatory objectives, including the protection of Gibraltar’s reputation and consumer interest.
However, the UK tax hikes announced by Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in November last year have made the Gibraltar government even more certain that its legislation needs an upgrade.
The Minister cited key elements of the bill such as introducing wider regulations for B2B activity, including marketing services; establishing new licence types, covering a wider threshold than the 2025 Act; and introducing enhanced enforcement and sanctioning powers for the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner, alongside a sanctions appeal tribunal.
He added that Gibraltar’s gambling industry, and the regulation of it, has achieved ‘internationally recognised success,’ and that the government wants this to be consistent ‘in an ever-changing environment with an enhanced and more flexible regime’.