Nearly 4 in 10 Irish online bettors move beyond sports and racing

Nearly four in ten people in Ireland who initially open an online account to bet on sport or horse racing later use other gambling products, according to new ESRI research commissioned by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI).

That finding is broader than a simple “sports bettors move to slots” headline. The products named by the researchers include online casino games, slots, bingo and scratchcards, and the survey does not show that every respondent followed the same path or that opening an account caused the change. What it does show is how often a betting account becomes a gateway to a wider menu of gambling.

The report, Patterns of online and in-person gambling in Ireland, was published on 4 November 2026 and is based on a representative sample of 1,000 people who had gambled during the previous year. It is a study of gamblers in Ireland, not a survey of the Irish population as a whole.

Multiple accounts are common

The account picture is striking on its own. More than half of people who had opened an online gambling account — 54% — went on to open a second one, while around 10% of online gamblers had four or more accounts.

Respondents commonly pointed to better odds, easy registration and promotional offers when explaining why they opened another account. That matters because the regulator is not looking at one isolated betting relationship: many customers are moving between several platforms, sometimes while also using several types of gambling product.

The survey also found that 77% of respondents had gambled online in the previous year, 59% had gambled in person and 44% had done both.

Marketing, losses and account friction

One in seven respondents said their most recent online gambling session directly followed an email, an app notification or a gambling advertisement. The result is self-reported rather than a test proving that advertising caused the session, but it gives GRAI a concrete measure of how operator communications can sit immediately before play.

The difference between online and in-person sessions also appeared in how respondents described losses. In their most recent session, 26% of online gamblers said they had lost “a lot”, compared with 17% of people gambling in person. The phrase is the respondents’ own assessment, not a fixed euro threshold.

Another finding may be more practical for regulation than any single percentage: many respondents said it was easier to open an account or deposit money than to close an account or withdraw winnings. That asymmetry turns ordinary account design into a consumer-protection question.

In the ESRI release accompanying the report, GRAI chief executive Anne Marie Caulfield said the research confirms the need for obligations covering account opening and closing, spending limits and advertising restrictions. She also pointed to marketing standards, account controls and self-exclusion as areas of focus.

Ireland’s new gambling regime is still being introduced in phases. GRAI’s current player-safety guidance describes measures including facilities for monetary limits, account closure and a central National Gambling Exclusion Register. The ESRI study gives the regulator fresh evidence about where those controls may matter most: not simply at the moment somebody signs up, but as one account becomes several and one type of gambling becomes a broader set of products.