Gibraltar Gambling Commission

More information about Gibraltar Gambling Commission

The application process for a license

The office of the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner (GGC) is responsible for issuing licenses. The commissioner is subordinate to the Gambling Division, a division of the Treasury. The application for a permit takes about three to six months. No fee is required for the application itself. Instead, Gibraltar charges a gambling tax of 1% of total sales with a minimum of £85,000 and a maximum of £425,000. In fact, these amounts mean that a license in Gibraltar costs at least £85,000 per year. Companies that are particularly reputable are, therefore, deterred, as these amounts already show that it is relatively difficult to obtain and keep a license.

In addition to the fulfillment of administrative conditions, there are also various other requirements that the casinos must meet in order to receive or keep their license. It is, therefore, not seen as granted that a license will also be renewed every year. Every casino has to commission an external test center to regularly test the reliability of the games. This external inspection body must also be on the list of selected partners, which are accepted by the Gambling Authority in Gibraltar. In this way, players know for sure that every online casino registered in Gibraltar not only has fair games but must also take the necessary steps to ensure this fairness in the long term.

Protection of players

In order to protect players, each casino must designate a person who is responsible for developing “responsible gambling” procedures and overseeing compliance with regulations in this regard. Training employees to identify risk behavior is also mandatory. The players must also be able to exclude themselves from the casino.

Compared to other licensing authorities, Gibraltar is a little less strict when it comes to responsible gambling. However, the casinos must ensure that the players are always informed of their transactions and their gaming history and can easily find help at the casino itself and at other related organizations. On top of that is it necessary to provide the players with the ability to set up gambling and deposit limits.

Financial regulations

Gibraltar’s financial regulations are not as strict as in some other jurisdictions either. With the exception of the requirement to have enough cash to cash out all possible winnings, no comprehensive rules have been set for the financial performance of the casinos. In part, this is taken care of implicitly due to the high licensing costs that cut out smaller casinos with fewer financial options in advance. 

All casinos registered in Gibraltar must use the financial institutions based on the island. While this does not replace the guarantees built into the regulations of other jurisdictions, it does at least guarantee a certain culture in which transparency is guaranteed.