New Irish Regulator Before End of 2021
Ireland is preparing to put in place an “extremely powerful” gambling regulator before the end of the year, according to Minister of State for Justice, James Browne. The regulator will focus on public health and wellbeing, in order to combat gambling harms. Reform of the country’s gambling laws has been long-awaited and some campaigners say that ministers should aim to bring in the new regulator sooner.
Ireland’s new gambling regulator will take a public health approach. ©Lukas Kloeppel/Pexels
New Legislation Incoming
It is expected that Ireland will introduce comprehensive new legislation this September, as it seeks to reform industry regulations. While the Minister of State for Justice is confident that a new regulator will be operational before the year is out, the changes cannot come soon enough for other ministers.
It has been eight years since a bill to regulate gambling was introduced, but it was never passed. Concern over the state of Ireland’s gambling laws has been building since then, and came to a peak when President Michael D Higgins recently expressed his worries over the prevalence of sports betting ads in the media.
Betting and gaming advertising has been a cause for concern for regulators in the UK as well. Some MPs have called for a ban on gambling firms sponsoring football club shirts, and it is now thought that that outcome could be likely. It has been widely reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would support the move.
The volume of gambling ads aired on TV has also been an issue for campaigners, and flared up just before Euro 2020. ITV was criticized for not banning gambling ads during the championship, although the industry’s voluntary whistle-to-whistle ban was still in place. Due to the timing of the matches, a large number of ads were still aired after the 9pm watershed.
The British government is carrying out its own review of the 2005 Gambling Act, and a white paper is expected to be published before the end of the year. The Irish government will be looking carefully to the results of that review, as it seeks to follow a similar path.
Call for Watershed
Minister James Browne says that the new Irish gambling regulator will be reinforced by comprehensive legislation. He explained that it is key that the regulator has a public health remit as its first and foremost focus. While legislation will ensure that Irish gambling is fair and free of crime, it must also have public safety at its heart.
The minister has said that that the regulator will be brought in with the new legislation in September, and that it will employ a hundred people. The new watchdog will have the power to further develop regulations and the codes of standards. Much like the UK’s Gambling Commission, it will also be instrumental in fining operators over non-compliance issues.
Browne’s plans have not been met without criticism though. Labor Senator Mark Wall has stated that the pace of change has been too slow and that the new legislation should be brought in earlier. Wall has also raised concerns over the lack of a watershed on airing gambling adverts.
It is a matter that President Higgins has also repeatedly expressed concern over. He has previously described sports betting as a “scourge” and has described current gambling advertising practices as dangerous. Earlier in July, Higgins questioned how media had been saturated by sports betting in spite of obvious evidence of its damage.
There are many other campaigners that agree with Senator Wall and the President. Wall claims that children and adults are exposed to addictive behavior when gambling ads are allowed to be freely broadcast before 9PM. He says that he regularly receives complaints from constituents about how many gambling ads are broadcast during live sports.
He went further, citing anecdotal evidence of homeschooled children asking their parents about gambling ads that they had seen during the day. Imposing a watershed would protect children and vulnerable adults from seeing these adverts, serving as an effective means to reduce gambling harms.
Online Gambling Grows
The Senator also highlighted Ireland’s annual gambling spend, which is currently €9.8 billion. That figure makes Ireland the seventh biggest spender on gambling per head in the world. The Irish Labor Party carried out a survey online, in which 80% of respondents said that they had noticed an increased in the number of gambling ads in the media.
Most concerningly, the same survey found that 65% of respondents were more inclined to gamble after seeing these adverts. While it is good news for operators that their marketing strategies are working, it a cause for worry for the Irish Labor Party and the public health system.
New statistics from H2 Gambling Capital have a highlighted a significant shift towards online gambling in Ireland. Last year nearly half of all betting took place online, compared to 36% the year before. On a global scale, Ireland ranks in 14th place for the average highest losses on gambling, in front of the UK.
Last year, Irish gamblers lost an estimated €1.36 billion. That equated to roughly €300 for every adult, making Ireland the fourth biggest nation of gamblers in the European Union. The Party is hopeful that it can turn these statistics around, having introduced a Bill to the Oireachtas earlier this year.
February’s Gambling (Prohibition of Advertising) Bill 2021 would impose an outright ban on broadcasting gambling ads on television. The Gaelic Players Association and the Gaelic Athletic Association have both backed the Party’s call, and are keen to disassociate sports with betting.
However, Minister Browne has stated that imposing a ban on gambling adverts would be challenging. This is due to the high level of sports programming aired that takes place in other countries, including horse racing and football. He also acknowledged that there had been delays on passing legislation and bringing in the new regulator.
