An online casino and sports betting website that bills itself as the “world’s largest” has been shut down to Irish users after an intervention by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI).
Stake, which claims to have more than 44 million customers in 169 countries, blocked access to Irish users last week after engagement with GRAI. The regulator has powers to sanction or take High Court action against firms operating in this country without the appropriate licence, as was the case with Stake.
The GRAI’s licensing system for online betting came into effect on July 1st, establishing new rules on age verification, prompt payment of winnings and a prohibition on use of credit cards. Thirty-three such licences have been issued to date.
Responding to a query from The Irish Times, the GRAI said that following interventions it made, “operators, including two major prediction markets and a major international online gambling platform, have geo-blocked their services, which means that they have voluntarily restricted access to their platforms for users from Ireland”.
“The GRAI is working closely with operators who have geo-blocked to ensure that consumers in Ireland are promptly refunded all monies deposited with these operators. A number of other operators have also closed their betting activities in Ireland following GRAI engagement.”
The regulator declined to name any of the companies involved, but it is understood the “major international online gambling platform” is Stake, while the predictions markets are Polymarket and Kalshi which, as previously reported in The Irish Times, both geo-blocked access in Ireland in recent months.
Stake, which was previously the front-of-shirt sponsor for English Premier League football club Everton, is believed to have been accessible from Ireland for several years.
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It is registered in Curaçao, a small Caribbean island state and haven for many offshore gambling companies.
Stake offers customers the option of betting on sports and other events or playing casino-style and other online games. These latter activities are not yet covered by Ireland’s new regulatory regime, and the company could have continued to offer them to customers here – but it chose instead to block its entire site.
Among the site’s features is the offer of open-ended commissions on the bets placed by family or friends a customer gets to sign up.
The GRAI is reported to be investigating the operations of more than 100 operators.
It says the illegal gambling market in Europe accounts for 70 per cent of betting activity and is worth more than €80 billion, with some 6,000 operators targeting the market.
“Our enforcement team is focusing on both extraterritorial remote gambling sites that are illegal at the point of consumption in Ireland, as well as unlicensed betting in pubs and unlicensed bookmaking, both in-person and online,” it said.