Ireland’s Gambling Regulatory Authority has signed its first memorandum of understanding with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the first such agreement between the Irish regulator and a gambling regulator in the United States. The pact sets out a framework for cooperation as Ireland has recently begun licensing online and remote betting services, a market both authorities said needs close diligence because gambling and betting increasingly take place across borders.
The GRAI described itself as one of Europe’s most recently established gambling regulators and Nevada’s board as the world’s oldest and longest-standing dedicated gaming regulator. It said the deal was a first step in collaboration between Irish and American gambling authorities.
Anne Marie Caulfield, the GRAI’s chief executive, said Nevada’s knowledge and experience in gambling regulation were very valuable to the Irish body. She said the GRAI welcomed the insight, guidance and experience the Nevada board could provide as a newly established regulator, and that the shared goal was consumer protection and public health and safety.
Mike Dreitzer, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said he was pleased to sign the memorandum and looked forward to sharing best practices and advancing collaboration.
The agreement comes against a broader Nevada push to tighten guidance around online gaming beyond the state. In January, the board issued Notice #2026-04, providing new reporting and due diligence requirements for licensees and applicants involved in online gaming activities outside Nevada.
Nevada said the rapid growth of internet gambling, including wagering in real-money online casinos and other forms of online gaming, had made additional policy guidance and clarity necessary. The board said its aim was to reduce possible adverse consequences under its foreign gaming requirements.
The notice said determining which jurisdictions were lawful, illegal or prohibited had become increasingly complex, especially because of where products were offered from and the range of commercial models in use. It described B2C, where a licensee sells directly to players, B2B, where licensees supply third parties, and games and content aggregators that distribute products across multiple operators or platforms.
The board said licensees should carry out full and proper due diligence before entering any jurisdiction, whether the offering occurred from inside or outside that jurisdiction. It also warned that the absence of enforcement action did not, by itself, mean online gaming products could be legally offered there.
The notice said some jurisdictions were presumptively prohibited, including Australia, China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Thailand. It also said licensees already offering online gaming outside Nevada had 60 days to provide a list of jurisdictions, should update contractual partners on prohibited jurisdictions at least annually, and should conduct thorough due diligence on all jurisdictions in which they knowingly offer online gaming products every two years.
