High-risk payment gateway and merchant accounts in Ireland

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 catches a game only where a participant pays and may win a prize of money or money's worth, and a lottery only where the payment buys a chance to win one. Social casino coins with no cash-out stay outside it. A paid-entry prize draw is a lottery, which a commercial promoter can run today only under a Garda permit, with prizes up to €5,000.

Gambling Regulation Act 2024, section 2(opens in a new tab)Sector page

The FSAI treats CBD as an unauthorized novel food, so no CBD food or supplement may be sold, though CBD itself is not a controlled drug. Ireland sets no THC tolerance: outside hemp seed products, food containing THC at any level is a controlled drug, and so is every part of the cannabis plant except mature stalk, fiber and seed. Hemp seed foods need no authorization.

FSAI: regulation of CBD and hemp food products in Ireland(opens in a new tab)Sector page

No license is needed, but every food supplement put on the Irish market for the first time must be notified to the FSAI, by the Irish manufacturer or the importer, and a retailer selling a product nobody notified must notify it itself. Medicinal ingredients and unauthorized novel foods are barred, labels may not claim to prevent, treat or cure disease, and health claims come from the EU register.

FSAI: food supplements(opens in a new tab)Sector page

No license applies. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022 buyers have 14 days to cancel online purchases of digital content and services. For downloads, the right ends once supply begins with the buyer's express consent and acknowledgment; a coaching client who cancels midway pays for the service received. Since June 30, 2026, online contracts need a "cancel contract here" function and a receipt.

CCPC: selling digital content or services, your legal obligations(opens in a new tab)Sector page

No license exists for IT support sold to Irish consumers: the Consumer Rights Act 2022 gives 14 days to cancel a service bought online, with payment due for work already done. The risk is the scam model: An Garda Síochána warns of callers posing as well-known computer companies who take remote control of a PC, then charge a card.

An Garda Síochána: computer cold calling scam advice (PDF)(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Direct selling through independent distributors is lawful in Ireland. Section 65 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 makes it an indictable offense to set up, run or promote a pyramid promotional scheme, or to induce anyone to join one. Where products are sold, the court weighs how much the promotion stresses the product against recruitment income, and whether the price matches comparable products elsewhere.

Consumer Protection Act 2007, section 65(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Adult content is lawful for adults. Coimisiún na Meán's Online Safety Code, binding on video-sharing platforms under Irish jurisdiction, requires those that allow pornography to use effective age assurance, and a self-declared age does not count. Platforms had to comply with Part B by July 2025, and on September 8, 2026 the regulator opened its first formal investigation under the Code, into X.

Coimisiún na Meán: investigation commenced into X under the Online Safety Code (September 2026)(opens in a new tab)Sector page

No license applies to dating services in Ireland, so consumer law sets the rules. Subscribers have 14 days to cancel a contract made online and pay only for the service already used. Before the sale, the trader must explain how to end an open-ended or auto-renewing contract, and since June 30, 2026 offer a "cancel contract here" function online.

CCPC: selling digital content or services, your legal obligations(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Buyers of a timeshare, holiday club or exchange contract get 14 days to withdraw, and until then the trader may take no advance payment, guarantee, card reservation or acknowledgment of debt; resale services take nothing before the sale. Holiday clubs bill in equal yearly installments. Breaches are criminal offenses, punishable on indictment by a fine of up to €60,000, 18 months in prison or both.

Timeshare and long-term holiday product regulations, S.I. No. 73 of 2011(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Since July 31, 2021, Ireland's Sale of Tickets Act has banned reselling tickets above their original price for events in designated venues, which must hold 1,000 people or more, and for designated events. Amateur sports clubs and registered charities raising funds are exempt. Touts face fines of up to €100,000 or two years in prison, and An Garda Síochána enforces the Act.

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: new law banning ticket touting comes into force (July 2021)(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Every consumer product sold in Ireland needs a responsible person in the EU, named on the product, its packaging or an accompanying document, since December 13, 2024. Since July 1, 2026, parcels of €150 or less from outside the EU, Great Britain included, pay €3 customs duty per distinct item. From November 1, 2026, every e-commerce item from outside the EU, whatever its value, pays a €2 handling fee.

Revenue: new Union Handling Fee for goods bought from outside the EU (September 2026)(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Irish consumers have 14 days to cancel a subscription bought online and pay only for the service already supplied. Before the sale, the trader must say how to end an open-ended or auto-renewing contract. S.I. No. 309 of 2026 added a "cancel contract here" function, prominently displayed and available throughout the cancellation period, followed by a receipt on a durable medium.

European Union (Distance Contracts for Financial Services) Regulations 2026, S.I. No. 309 of 2026(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Since February 5, 2026, the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 has repealed the Betting Act 1931, banned credit cards as a means of paying for gambling and let customers set spending limits. GRAI remote betting and betting intermediary licenses took effect on July 1, 2026. No Irish license yet covers online casino: GRAI gaming licenses open to applications, with lottery and B2B licenses, through 2027 and 2028.

GRAI: commencement of remote betting licenses (July 2026)(opens in a new tab)Sector page

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 sets no skill exemption: a game of skill, of chance or of both counts as gaming once a participant pays and may win money or money's worth. Paid fantasy contests built as pools on sports results may instead count as betting, which includes pool betting. GRAI licenses remote betting now; gaming licenses open to applications in 2027 and 2028.

Gambling Regulation Act 2024, section 2(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Offering CFDs or rolling spot forex to Irish consumers needs MiFID authorization from the Central Bank, or a passport from another EEA regulator. The Central Bank's own intervention measure, in force since August 1, 2019, sets initial margin from 3.33% on major currency pairs to 50% on crypto, closes positions below half the margin and caps losses at the account balance. Binary options are banned.

Central Bank of Ireland: ban on binary options and restrictions on CFDs (June 2019)(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Crypto-asset services to Irish clients need MiCA authorization as a crypto-asset service provider, from the Central Bank or another EU regulator by passport. Ireland gave firms registered as virtual asset service providers before December 30, 2024 a transitional period of up to 12 months, which ended in late December 2025. An unregistered provider has no route left to serve Irish clients.

Central Bank of Ireland: impact of MiCAR on VASPs(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Under Part V of the Central Bank Act 1997, anyone paid to advise consumers on discharging their debts, negotiate with their creditors or carry out any similar activity is a debt management firm and needs Central Bank authorization first. That authorization does not allow holding client money: a firm collecting payments for creditors also needs a payment institution or money transmission authorization.

Central Bank of Ireland: introduction to debt management firms(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Every doctor practicing medicine in Ireland, telemedicine included, must be registered with the Medical Council, while doctors established elsewhere in the EU may treat Irish patients remotely under their home registration. Prescribing is the hard limit: Irish e-prescriptions travel through Healthmail, and e-prescriptions issued from another EU or EEA state or the UK are not legally valid for dispensing in Ireland.

Medical Council: telemedicine, a guide for doctors(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Selling vapes online to Irish consumers needs an annual HSE license for each website, at €800, with the license number shown on the site; selling without one is an offense punishable by a fine of up to €4,000. E-liquid Products Tax has applied since November 1, 2025, and the Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Act 2026 bans the sale of disposable vapes from January 24, 2027.

HSE: tobacco and nicotine inhaling product licenses(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Only sellers on the PSI's Internet Supply List may sell non-prescription medicines online in Ireland, and every page offering them must show the EU common logo. Sellers established elsewhere in the EU may supply Irish customers if the medicine is authorized in Ireland by the HPRA. Prescription medicines cannot be supplied by mail order or over the internet.

PSI: internet supply overview(opens in a new tab)Sector page

An Irish travel agent or tour operator selling travel departing from Ireland needs an Irish Aviation Authority license, renewed every year, and a bond; trading without one is an offense. Sellers established elsewhere in the EU notify the authority of their home-country insolvency protection, and sellers outside the EU must show cover for every euro taken. Packages inside Ireland need insolvency insurance, not a license.

Irish Aviation Authority: travel trade, business(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Selling firearms or ammunition in Ireland by way of trade requires registration as a firearms dealer, and the Minister for Justice must be satisfied the business is about to trade from suitable premises. A dealer may sell only to a buyer who produces a firearm certificate, issued by An Garda Síochána, authorizing that purchase, and must notify the Gardaí of each firearm sale within 48 hours.

Firearms Act 1925, section 10(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Carrying vehicles or other goods by road for hire or reward in Ireland needs a road haulage operator license from the Department of Transport, national or international, with a fee per vehicle on the license. The international license comes with the Community license for carriage across the EU. Brokers and exporters who do not transport goods themselves need no sector license.

Department of Transport: apply for a road haulage operator license(opens in a new tab)Sector page

An Irish seller needs a court certificate, then a Revenue retailer's off-license for each product type, wine, beer, spirits, cider or sweets, at €500 each for a licensing year from October 1 to September 30. A seller in another EU state must appoint a Revenue-approved tax representative in Ireland and pay Irish duty before dispatch. Selling alcohol to anyone under 18 is an offense.

Revenue: retailer's off licence, first application(opens in a new tab)Sector page

Since 2026 every premises and every website selling tobacco to Irish consumers needs its own annual HSE license, at €1,000, replacing the old one-off €50 registration. Revenue requires Irish Tobacco Products Tax, VAT and any customs duty to be paid before goods bought online or by mail order are dispatched, and seizes products where they are not. A bill banning nicotine pouch sales to under-18s awaits enactment.

Revenue: Tobacco Products Tax(opens in a new tab)Sector page