GRAI Rules on Betting Bonuses and Promotions in Ireland

GRAI-licensed betting sites can offer bonuses and promotions — but the rules around how these are advertised and what operators can do with them are significantly stricter than on unregulated sites. This page explains what GRAI requires, what is prohibited, and how to read bonus terms on a compliant Irish betting site.

Bonuses Are Permitted, But Terms Must Be Transparent

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 does not ban bonuses, free bets or welcome offers. GRAI-licensed operators are permitted to offer these, including sign-up bonuses, reload offers, free bet tokens, enhanced odds and loyalty rewards. What GRAI regulates is how these are advertised and presented, not whether they can exist.

The core requirement is transparency. Every condition attached to a bonus must be clearly disclosed to the customer before they accept it. This includes:

• Wagering requirements: If a bonus must be wagered X times before withdrawal, that figure must appear prominently, not only in full terms buried behind a link.
• Minimum odds: If the bonus can only be used on bets at minimum odds of, say, Evens (2.0), that restriction must be stated.
• Time limits: If the bonus expires after 7 days, that must be clearly communicated at the point of acceptance.
• Market or sport restrictions: If a free bet only applies to certain sports or bet types, that is a material term that must be disclosed.

Misleading Bonus Advertising Is Prohibited

GRAI advertising rules specifically address misleading bonus promotions. Prohibited practices include:

• Headline figures without material terms: Advertising a "€50 free bet" in large text while the actual value to most customers is significantly lower due to wagering requirements is prohibited if the restrictions are not prominently displayed.
• The word "free" without disclosing deposit requirements: Calling a bonus "free" in advertising when it requires a deposit first is misleading unless the deposit requirement is prominently stated alongside the "free" claim.
• Time-limited offers presented as ongoing: Creating false urgency by implying an offer will expire when it will not, or presenting one-time offers as standard features, is prohibited.
• Guaranteeing returns: Bonus advertising cannot imply or guarantee any specific financial return. Claims like "guaranteed winnings" or "risk-free bets" (without clear disclosure of exactly what protection is being offered and its limits) are prohibited.

Bonus Marketing to Restricted Customers

GRAI licensing conditions create a clear prohibition on sending bonus marketing to customers who have self-restricted. Specifically, operators cannot send bonus offers, promotional materials or inducements to:

• Customers who have set a deposit limit.
• Customers who are on the National Gambling Exclusion Register.
• Customers who have set a session time limit or invoked other responsible gambling restrictions.

This matters because one of the recognised patterns in problem gambling is operators sending increasingly attractive bonus offers to customers who are showing signs of trying to cut back. GRAI licensing conditions treat this as a prohibited practice, not just ethically problematic behaviour.

Wagering Requirements: What the Rules Say

GRAI does not cap wagering requirements at a specific level — a 30x or 40x requirement is not automatically prohibited. What is required is that the wagering requirement is disclosed clearly. This is consistent with the approach taken by the UKGC.

At CraicBet, we always present wagering requirements in our bonus reviews because they are the most important variable in determining the actual value of a bonus. A "€50 free bet" with a 1x wagering requirement (stake-not-returned) is a meaningfully different offer from a "€50 bonus" with a 30x wagering requirement. GRAI's transparency rules exist to make this clear to customers.

Free Bets: Stake Returned or Stake Not Returned?

The distinction between "stakes returned" and "stakes not returned" (sometimes labelled SNR) in free bet offers is a key term that GRAI requires to be disclosed clearly. If you place a free bet and win, do you receive the full return including the stake portion? Or only the profit? This distinction significantly affects the actual value of a free bet and is a material term that must appear in the offer advertising, not only in full terms.

Bonuses on Unlicensed Sites

Unlicensed offshore sites face no GRAI advertising rules. Some use highly misleading bonus advertising — headline offers with buried restrictions designed to make it practically impossible to ever withdraw bonus funds. There is no regulatory body to complain to if you find the actual terms bear little resemblance to the advertised offer.

GRAI licensing creates an accountable framework where misleading bonus advertising can be investigated and penalised. See our page on GRAI enforcement powers for the penalties operators face.

For the full picture: GRAI licence explained — Ireland's gambling regulator guide.

Frequently Asked Questions