31^st March 2026

Madam Speaker, as background for the benefit of Hansard, when taking the Gambling Bill through Committee Stage last week, we referred to the amendments set out in my original letter dated 8th October 2025. Inadvertently, the House did not refer to the subsequent amendments contained in my letter dated 19th February 2026. This was a collective omission. While Parliament is sovereign, we as its members, being human, are not infallible.

As a result, those amendments were not called during Committee Stage and were therefore not passed. Given that the Bill had already received Royal Assent from His Excellency the Governor without incorporating this second set of amendments, we have taken steps to rectify the position through the introduction of an urgent Bill now before this House to give effect to them. This Bill has been certified as urgent by the Chief Minister and is now properly before Honourable Members.

Since I last updated this House when presenting the new Bill last week, I am pleased to inform Honourable Members that a new licence has been issued, notwithstanding that the Act could not yet be brought into force and that the licence had to be issued under the existing legislation. As I previously indicated during those proceedings, engagement with industry participants at the Consensus Hong Kong conference in February this year generated significant interest in Gibraltar’s  

regulatory offering, and a licence application was already in progress. That licence has now been granted, allowing the company to operate in the prediction markets. We expect this to be a substantial area of potential growth for Gibraltar.

Madam Speaker, I am advised that this represents record timing for the issuance of a regulatory licence in Gibraltar. This reflects the undertaking I personally gave, as Licensing Authority under the old Act, to the applicant. It also demonstrates the pace at which we must sometimes act to safeguard Gibraltar’s vital economic interests. There is no room for complacency, and no room for unnecessary delay in enabling responsible economic activity in these important sectors. We must continue to adapt decisively to a changing global economic environment. And adapt we must.

Importantly, this aligns with the Government’s strategic objective of diversification.

Further information will be made public in the coming days.

Since the introduction of the recent U.K. gambling duty increases, I have taken a more direct responsibility for promoting Gibraltar’s regulatory offering. This has included attending international conferences (as I have previously informed this House) to raise awareness and attract new business to Gibraltar - a role I am very familiar with from many years in private legal practice.

Madam Speaker, on Thursday I will be meeting the MONEYVAL Secretariate in Strasbourg and then heading for London where we will be meeting another potential gaming applicant.

The team at my Ministry in these areas are relatively new but highly motivated and their involvement in working closely with me, ensures that the skills required for the future are nurtured and retained within the civil service. That is my commitment and it is through this combination of experience, guidance, and practical engagement that will help strengthen Gibraltar’s position as a leading and competitive jurisdiction in these areas.

I commend this Bill to the House.