Gibraltar’s new Gambling Act will focus on external markets rather than Westminster to support gaming licenses during a period of structural change, Gambling Commissioner Andrew Lyman said in an interview.
Two months after its announcement on November 26, the impact of the Autumn Statement continues to shape the agenda and discussions in the UK gambling industry.
From April, holders of UK licenses will be required to implement the first measure of the new tax plan — an increase in remote (online) gambling duties, including online casinos, from 21% to 41%. For the market, this represents another turning point and a significant challenge for all industry participants.
Particular attention is being paid to the budgetary implications in Gibraltar, which remains the main operational hub for operators holding UK licenses.
“The adjustment will be difficult, but it’s not terminal,” Lyman noted.
For this UK overseas territory, such shocks are not new: decisions made in Westminster have repeatedly led to systemic changes. Over the past decade, Gibraltar has faced the consequences of Brexit, failed negotiations, and prolonged uncertainty surrounding the Spain-Gibraltar agreement.
Nevertheless, the current changes may be even more profound. Gambling license revenues account for about half of Gibraltar’s corporate tax receipts, and the rise in effective tax rates to around 85% forces operators to rigorously reassess their financial models and business.
“Let’s be straight…. There is going to be a significant fall in earnings, with many predicting a 60–75% impact on EBITDA,” Lyman says. “That has a knock-on effect on corporate tax and what that leaves the Gibraltar government with.”
“We are facing a challenging situation around the allocation of economic resources and tax revenue,” he adds, “and the majority of that revenue funds healthcare, social care, elderly care and public housing.”
Gibraltar is once again at a stage of major changes in gambling regulation; however, according to Lyman, there is no question of cutting back or exiting the sector. On the contrary, his team, together with government representatives, is finalizing the new Gambling Bill, designed to reflect the realities of the global gaming industry.
Having been one of the pioneers in regulation at the dawn of online gambling, Gibraltar became a key hub for the UK’s leading operators. Currently, about 80% of licenses in the jurisdiction are for companies focused on the UK market. While this model provided scale and stability, Lyman believes future development must focus on geographic expansion and reducing reliance on a single market.
“We ended up with a sector that was 75–80% UK-facing,” he notes. “That wasn’t by design; it was simply how the market evolved. Now we need to look outward.”
It is important to emphasize that the new Gambling Act is not a fiscal response to the UK tax increase, nor is it intended to compensate for lost revenue by issuing more licenses.
“The new Act was never about generating revenue for government,” Lyman says. “It’s about regulatory control and recognising that the gambling landscape has changed fundamentally since 2005.”
These changes are structural. Modern gambling companies operate across multiple jurisdictions, rely heavily on technology, and increasingly diversify their business models — conditions that the existing regulatory framework was never designed to accommodate.
The new governance model provides clearer and more transparent market access for B2B suppliers and game studios, introduces a tiered licensing system reflecting scale and risk, and improves the assessment of management and control structures. It also gives regulators the tools to engage directly with companies operating in cryptocurrency and digital assets that are seeking to transition into a regulated environment.
“The industry has moved on significantly in the last 20 years, especially in how businesses are structured, where technology sits, and how products are delivered,” Lyman says. “The legislation has to reflect that reality if we’re going to regulate effectively.”
“We cannot regulate today’s industry on the assumption that everything sits physically in one place,” he adds. “What matters is where businesses are managed and controlled.”
Amid heightened fiscal pressures, Gibraltar sees regulatory certainty more as a stabilizer than as a constraint.
“In a time like this, the worst thing you can do is introduce uncertainty,” Lyman says. “Operators need clarity and predictability if they are going to invest, adapt and remain sustainable.”
While the law modernizes Gibraltar’s regulatory framework, Lyman emphasizes that standards remain unchanged.
“This is not deregulation,” he stated, “It’s about being proportionate and sensible.”
As 2026 begins, Gibraltar is ready to present a renewed vision for gambling governance, reflecting the realities of a global, multi-jurisdictional sector and lessons learned from repeated external shocks. The goal is not to distance itself from the UK market but to ensure that Gibraltar’s regulatory and economic model is more resilient and less dependent on external political developments.
“This is about putting Gibraltar on a footing that’s sustainable for the long term,” Lyman concludes. “The industry will continue to change, and our responsibility is to make sure the framework is strong enough, flexible enough and clear enough to evolve with it.”
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