Ireland Betting Payment Methods

Is online betting legal in Ireland?

Yes, and since 1 July 2026 only with a licence from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland. The Gambling Regulation Act 2024, enacted on 23 October 2024, created the GRAI, whose establishment day was 5 March 2025, to license and regulate betting, gaming and certain lotteries, in person and online. The Minister for Justice signed the commencement order on 4 February 2026, it took effect on 5 February, applications opened on 9 February, and the remote betting and remote betting intermediary licences commenced on 1 July 2026. From that day a bookmaker taking bets online from Ireland needs a GRAI licence, and the Authority states that operating without one is a criminal offence.

Betting shops follow on 1 December 2026, when their licences from the Revenue Commissioners expire; until then Revenue still issues the old betting licences, cut from 24 to 12 months to cover the transition. Gaming, lottery, business-to-business and charitable licences open through 2027 and 2028. The Totalisator Act 1929 and the Betting Act 1931 are repealed. The Authority can fine a licensee up to €20 million or 10% of turnover and apply to court to stop an illegal operator.

The rules that touch your money are already in force. Since 5 February 2026 a licensee may not accept a credit card, or offer credit, for gambling, and gambling premises may not have an ATM unless the licence allows it. Nobody under 18 may gamble, and from 1 July 2026 a remote licensee must verify your age and identity before it registers you. You may set your own monetary limits on an online account, the Authority may cap what can be lodged with a licensee, and offering inducements such as free bets to encourage gambling is an offence. The National Gambling Exclusion Register arrives with the full commencement of the Act.

The bettor pays no tax: section 613(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 says that winnings from betting, lotteries, sweepstakes or games with prizes are not chargeable gains. The bookmaker pays betting duty of 2% on every bet taken from a person in the State, over the counter or by remote means, and a betting exchange pays 25% of the commission it charges Irish customers.

Which payment methods work from Ireland

Of the 46 bookmakers open to Ireland, 39 list Visa and 36 Mastercard, 34 Neteller and 32 Skrill, 24 Paysafecard, 16 Apple Pay, 14 Google Pay, 14 Payz, 13 Maestro, 12 Jeton, 12 MiFinity, 11 MuchBetter, 10 PayPal and 9 Revolut. Twenty-three name a bank transfer and ten Trustly. Thirty take Bitcoin and 28 Ethereum, five of them crypto betting sites. No list includes American Express, Discover or Diners Club.

• No credit cards. The ban in the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 has applied since 5 February 2026 to every licensee. Deposit with a debit card, a bank transfer or a wallet; a credit card typed into the cashier of a licensed site is refused.
• Wallets from the EEA. Neteller serves the European Economic Area through Paysafe Payment Solutions Limited and Skrill belongs to the same group, PayPal runs Irish accounts from PayPal (Europe) in Luxembourg, and Revolut’s Irish accounts sit with Revolut Bank UAB. PayPal admits only approved operators in jurisdictions where gambling is legal, so whether it shows in the cashier depends on the bookmaker’s licence and on PayPal’s approval; 10 of the 46 list it.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay for deposits. Ireland is on both country lists. Add a debit card; withdrawals go back to the card or to your bank account.
• Paysafecard is Irish-issued. The codes come from Paysafe Prepaid Services Limited of Dublin, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland: €50 per payment with a bare code, €1,000 with the registered account, and betting sites accept payments only from the account. One account per person, for residents of Ireland.
• Crypto goes through MiCA exchanges. Buying and selling in the EU runs through providers authorised under the crypto-assets regulation, whose transition ended on 1 July 2026. The exchange identifies you; the GRAI pages we read say nothing about crypto at licensed bookmakers, and the 30 of the 46 that list Bitcoin include the five crypto sites.

Local payment methods

SEPA and instant transfers. Ireland has no national scheme of its own: the local method is the euro bank transfer, listed by 23 of the 46 bookmakers. Since 9 January 2025 every bank in the euro area must be able to receive an instant credit transfer, and since 9 October 2025 to send one; the Central Bank of Ireland describes it as arriving within ten seconds, against upwards of 24 hours for an ordinary transfer, and under the EU regulation a bank may not charge more for it than for a standard transfer and must check free of charge that the payee’s name matches the IBAN. A withdrawal by bank transfer therefore lands as soon as the bookmaker sends it.

Revolut. Listed by nine of the 46 under “Revolut” or “Revolut Pay”, it pays from the balance of an account held with Revolut Bank UAB. On the Standard plan the exchange is free up to €1,000 a month and costs 1% beyond it, plus 1% at weekends, which matters only if your betting account is not in euros. The app has a gambling block, off by default, that takes up to 48 hours to lift, and Revolut’s Buyer Protection excludes gambling.

Paysafecard. Sold in shops as €10, €25, €50 and €100 codes and online from €5 to €150, redeemed through the registered account for betting; €4 a month comes off an unused code from the second month and a refund costs €7.50.

How to deposit and withdraw from Ireland

• Keep the account in euros. 42 of the 46 bookmakers offer a EUR account; the four that do not are crypto sites. In any other currency the card issuer or the wallet converts each payment, at 3.99% in Skrill’s case.
• Check the licence first. Since 1 July 2026 a site taking online bets from Ireland needs a GRAI remote betting licence; we found no public register of licensees on grai.ie on 19 October 2026, so look for the licence statement in the site’s footer and terms.
• Have your ID ready. A remote licensee must verify your age and identity before it registers you, so the document check comes before the first deposit rather than at the first withdrawal.
• Debit card or instant transfer, never credit. The credit-card ban applies to every licensee; a bank transfer from an Irish account is instant and costs no more than a standard one.
• Use the bank block if you need it. PTSB added a gambling block to its app in September 2025, and Revolut has one under Profile › Security › Payments.
• Nothing to declare. Winnings are not chargeable gains; the 2% betting duty is paid by the bookmaker.