In fact, up until recently, there would have been a lot of overlap between the two countries. There are certainly a few minor differences, which we will look at on this page.
The similarities
The biggest similarity will be in the games that you can find. Online casinos in the UK tend to be a bit more established, which means you’ll often find a lot more games there. However, we doubt that there are any games (outside of casino-exclusive games) that you won’t find somewhere in Ireland. As near as we can tell, there isn’t a single game developer who isn’t willing to make their games available in Ireland. At the very least, you’ll find all the big games there.
In addition to this, payment options will be the same, including debit cards, PayPal, cryptocurrency, etc. Irish casinos will, however, deal in euros, and British casinos in GBP. The overall experience between British and Irish casinos when depositing or withdrawing funds won’t be too dissimilar.
Site licensing
This is where we start to see some of the bigger differences between online casinos in the two countries.
In the UK, if you want to offer gambling services to British customers, then you need to be licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, or the UKGC for short. There are some pretty strict requirements for a casino to be licensed by the UKGC.
In Ireland? Well, it was only recently that Ireland started to make a push towards proper regulation. Many Irish gamblers would previously have gambled at UKGC-licensed casinos in the UK, although even online casinos licensed with more reputable licensing boards, such as new MGA casinos licensed platforms (licensed in Malta) were fine. Nobody cared in Ireland. You probably wouldn’t have had the same protection as the people living in the country where the licence was issued, but there would at least be some protection for Irish casinos.
However, things are now starting to become a bit more regulated in Ireland. The country has recently introduced a Gambling Regulation Bill (2022), and the Gambling Regulatory Authority will serve a very similar role to the UKGC in the UK, so things may change a bit on the regulation front.
Player protection
If you gamble at a licensed casino in either the UK or Ireland, and its license is granted by a reputable authority, then there are good player protections in place. That being said, there are slightly better protections in the UK than in Ireland. However, as more legislation is introduced in Ireland, there may end up being a lot of similarities between the two countries.
The big one right now is that the UK has the GAMSTOP service. This allows problem gamblers to self-exclude from gambling. Once added to the GAMSTOP system, people cannot gamble at any other casino in the UK. In Ireland, there is nothing like it. This means that problem gamblers can jump from online casino to online casino without anybody telling them they can’t. However, as we said, this is likely to change. There has been some indication in introduced legislation that Ireland is intent on stamping out problem gambling.
Taxation
It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the UK or Ireland; if you win at an online casino, you won’t pay any tax on your winnings. Even if you win big, neither government will claim a slice of your winnings. However, there are different tax rules that apply to online casinos.
In the UK, the tax rate is 21% on gross gaming revenue. This means that all profits (before operational expenses) are taxed at this rate at an online casino. In fact, all gambling except for sports betting is taxed at the same rate (there is a slightly different tax rate for sports, but we won’t get into that).
In Ireland, the tax is 15% on net revenue. This is basically the same as in the UK, in that all income from the site, minus the winnings paid out, is taxed. The tax is levied before operational expenses.
This doesn’t matter all that much to the consumer. Most people don’t care what the tax rate is for online casinos. If an online casino is offering you services, then, in most cases, they will pay tax to your country. However, Ireland allows Irish gamblers to gamble at non-Irish casinos, which means that not all tax income will be filtering back into Ireland. This is part of the reason why Ireland wants to regulate gambling more – it’ll help to fill up the coffers.
Site advertising
Online casinos in the UK are highly restricted in how they can advertise promotions and their online platform. Online casinos need to be crystal clear about what they are offering. They also need to ensure that their ads are not shown to the ‘wrong’ group of people (wherever possible).
Online casinos in Ireland do not have very strict rules about advertising. Often, we’ve seen an online casino in Ireland advertising a cracking bonus, only to find that the bonus isn’t as great as it seems. That being said, we know that one of the aims of new legislation in Ireland is to rein in advertising a little. So, we predict things will be similar to the UK within the next few years.
Site investment
Websites in the UK are technologically better, since they have a far larger market. Irish casinos tend to be a bit more basic, especially on the mobile front. You might not see Irish casinos invest as much in new games, which is a shame. Hopefully, this is something that will change in the future.
Final thoughts
Online casinos in Ireland and the UK are pretty much the same. As long as a site is properly licensed, it is safe to gamble there. You may notice small differences in game selection and the quality of the website. However, for the most part, you don’t need to worry too much about this – just have fun gambling!