Ireland unveils AML strategy targeting gambling and crypto

• Ireland launches its first National Anti-Money Laundering Strategy, with Tánaiste Simon Harris targeting gambling and crypto.
• The strategy proposes requiring gambling firms to adopt a closed-loop payment system and apply an industry source-of-funds standard for crypto-related activity.
• The 2026 National Risk Assessment found a moderate overall money laundering threat in Ireland, with crypto and cash-based methods both flagged.

Ireland has set out its first National Anti-Money Laundering Strategy, outlining planned tighter oversight of gambling operators and due-diligence reforms covering crypto-assets and crypto transfers.

Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris unveiled the plan on 13 August, targeting sectors the government considers vulnerable to exploitation by criminal networks.

Closed-loop payments

The strategy proposes requiring gambling companies to adopt a “closed loop” payment system, under which customer withdrawals would run through the same account used to deposit funds. The government says the measure is designed to stop illicit funds entering through one channel and exiting, laundered, through another.

Casino clubs offering machine-based gambling would also face a “more robust regulatory framework” under the plan, alongside tighter enforcement of licence conditions and anti-money laundering obligations more broadly. The government has not yet detailed what the enhanced framework will require in practice.

Crypto due diligence

A central plank of the strategy targets cryptocurrency. Officials plan to establish an industry “source-of-funds” standard for crypto-related activity, meaning due diligence would be applied when accepting crypto-related activity as a source of funds.

The strategy does not specify a timetable or final technical requirements for the standard, which will need separate implementation measures.

The move would put Ireland alongside other jurisdictions tightening crypto oversight in gambling. Malta’s Malta Gaming Authority named crypto controls a 2026 priority, while Curaçao Gaming Authority has issued its own crypto guideline for B2C operators, setting minimum controls on digital-asset acceptance.

The Central Bank of Ireland has also been tasked with building a “systematic understanding” of how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, could create new vulnerabilities or strengthen defences against financial crime.

Ownership and enforcement

The strategy also targets corporate secrecy. Officials plan new disclosure requirements for limited partnerships and other higher-risk corporate vehicles, including mandatory disclosure of ultimate beneficial owners, and intend to begin work on a framework to support parallel investigations into money laundering and tax offences.

Intelligence sharing would expand across the Garda, the Financial Intelligence Unit, Revenue, the Criminal Assets Bureau, the Central Bank and financial institutions, the government said.

The launch follows Ireland’s 2026 National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Proliferation Financing, which found a moderate overall threat, with criminal groups blending cash-based methods with crypto assets and money-mule networks. It also comes as gardaí cooperate with overseas agencies on an international investigation into the Dubai-based Kinahan cartel’s assets.

Simon Harris, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, said:

“Ireland will not be a safe place to launder criminal proceeds.”

The gambling sector’s inclusion comes as operators are still adjusting to Ireland’s licensing regime. The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland began licensing remote operators from 1 July 2026, following the opening of applications in February, with remote betting operators being brought into the GRAI’s B2C licensing regime.

Ireland had already signalled its intent on this front, having raised gambling risk ratings in an AML action plan published in June.

For operators still bedding into GRAI’s regime, the strategy may add further compliance requirements alongside the existing licensing framework: a source-of-funds standard for crypto alongside closed-loop payment rules. Suppliers processing Irish transactions should review their payment and verification flows once the detailed requirements are published.