Andrew Lyman, Gibraltar’s Gambling Commissioner, has pushed back firmly against growing pessimism surrounding the jurisdiction’s future as a premier gambling hub.
Redundancies and layoffs have been mounting across Gibraltar’s gambling sector, creating what many describe as a pervasive sense of doom about the market’s direction.
Lyman took to social media to address the negativity directly, writing that those writing off Gibraltar as a tier-one hub, including some voices within the jurisdiction itself, are simply wrong.
His full statement read: “The model is under pressure, but far from spent,” signalling his confidence in Gibraltar’s long-term standing as a competitive regulatory environment.
Among the recent high-profile redundancy processes, Lottoland has been consulting with its 270 Gibraltar-based employees about potential job cuts, a development that drew significant attention across the industry.
That particular process, however, was understood to be more directly connected to the loss of a legal case in Germany and potential market compression there, rather than reflecting deeper problems within Gibraltar itself.
Lyman acknowledged the difficult human consequences of these decisions, offering his “heartfelt sympathies” to those bearing the brunt of the restructuring taking place across the sector.
He explained that competitive pressure has simply pushed Gibraltarian companies to “be leaner and meaner over cost and efficiency, and to accelerate the implementation of AI” across their operations.
The commissioner also noted that some operators had become “quite top-heavy people-wise,” suggesting the current wave of cuts represents a corrective process rather than evidence of structural collapse.
From Lyman’s perspective, cross-jurisdictional regulatory tightening in markets such as the UK is not translating into reduced interest in Gibraltar as a licensing destination.
On the contrary, the jurisdiction’s newly reformulated Gambling Act has created a busy pipeline of fresh applications and renewed engagement from operators across multiple business models.
A third “significant prediction market operator” is likely set to be licensed in the near future, joining Predictstreet and Wagerwire under Gibraltar’s new prediction market-specific regulatory framework.
Three to four new B2C licences are also being processed, driven partly by changes in how B2B licences are now classified under the updated legislation, broadening the scope of activity regulated locally.
Lyman confirmed further activity is imminent, stating: “We’re probably about to licence an initial tranche of six or seven marketing-only companies as well,” pointing to diversification rather than contraction.
For the experienced regulator, the Gambling Act transition has “created renewed interest in Gibraltar, as opposed to driving operators out because they feel they’re being over-regulated,” a distinction he considers fundamental to understanding the current moment.
