Anyone writing today that Gibraltar licenses under the Gambling Act 2005 is working from a dead text: on 1 April 2026 the new Gambling Act 2025 entered into force, the 2005 Act was repealed, and the regime is in transition — the six-month licensing window for the new categories is approaching its end as this page is prepared. That is not a technicality. Any Gibraltar decision — entering, pausing, or assessing an existing structure — must now be built on the new act, its widened scope and its deadlines. This page describes the new regime strictly from the Gibraltar Gambling Division and the official statute database, marks separately what still needs confirmation, and closes with the Georgian cross-border layer.
We repeat the principle established on our other jurisdiction pages: a Gibraltar licence creates no access to the Georgian market and does not remove Georgian permits, taxes or reporting. But one element of the new Gibraltar regime — the widened "reach" test — means Georgian groups should also assess whether they fall within this regulation at all; we deal with that below.
The Gambling Act 2025: what changed on 1 April 2026
The new act formally commenced on 1 April 2026 — by Notice of Commencement 2026/064 — and has already been amended once, by the Gambling (Amendment) Act 2026. The Gambling Act 2005 is marked repealed in the official statute database. The architecture keeps a proven shape: licences are granted by the Licensing Authority — the designated Minister — while day-to-day regulation belongs to the Gambling Commissioner, supported by the Gambling Division's staff. Applications run through the eGov portal or by email; the Division also publishes a list of Approved Testing Facilities. Historically the Division licensed blue-chip companies with track records, but in its own words it considers start-ups and relocations as well.