Gibraltar started licensing remote gambling in 1998, before most jurisdictions had a framework worth using. First-mover timing brought the early sportsbooks, and once a cluster forms in an industry this specialised, the people are the reason it stays.
Tax is the reason most often cited and it is real. B2C gaming tax is 0.15% of gross gaming yield, there is no VAT, and corporate tax is 15%. But low tax alone describes half a dozen jurisdictions, and most of them never built an industry.
The rest is legal and operational. English common law, English-speaking courts, an experienced regulator that understands the products it supervises, and enough compliance and payments talent inside a very small territory to staff a large operator without importing an entire department.
The last two years have tested that. UK Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026, the same day Gibraltar’s own Gambling Act 2025 came into force, and some brands are restructuring their UK-facing operations in response.
The cluster is unlikely to disperse quickly, because the thing holding it together was never only the tax rate. But anything written about Gibraltar before 2026 should be read with the duty change in mind.