TDs and Senators in Ireland have expressed their criticism against the local Lottery regulator Liam Sloyan with the explanation that he is not doing his best in order to make sure public is protected from the negative effects of gambling, and more specifically, gambling addictions.
Mr. Sloyan came under fire at the time he appeared before the joint Committee on finance, public expenditure and reform after it urged him to demonstrate and prove he was investigating the impact of online gambling on the territory of Ireland. The Lottery Regulator was required to reveal if he had an actual oversight over the Premier Lotteries Ireland (PMI), which back in 2014 was granted with a 20-year licence under which it was given the opportunity to operate the country’s National Lottery in return to €405 million.
Thanks to the National Lottery Act of 2013, the Ireland’s National regulator was officially established. It was the same act which also made it possible for the privatisation of the franchise to happen two years later, in 2015.
As reported by local media, the new operator brought a rapid growth of online games which were officially introduced on the territory of Ireland. Unfortunately, a lot of concerns related with problem gambling and addictions followed, too. Up to date, there are no less than twenty variations of the so-called “instant games” that are allowed to be played on the Internet on the website of the Irish National Lottery. In addition, there are of course, the EuroMillions draws and the traditional lottery.
Currently, Mr. Sloyan occupies the position of the Lottery Regulator, and is responsible for protecting customers and making sure all operations within the sector are carried out in line with the regulatory requirements. At the meeting, he explained he was primarily focused on monitoring online gaming operations and reported that current situation made it easy for customers to register more than one user account online and play various games. However, he was unwilling to discuss the so-called “commercially sensitive information” related to monopoly, which became the main reason why Senators and TDs criticised him.
According to some of them, serious lack of supervision was the main problem related to the regulator’s work. On the other hand, the Lottery Regulator of the country reported he was satisfied with the extra online games which had been officially implemented by PLI and shared his opinion on the matter, saying that his office used various methods in order to find out if an individual game was suitable for local customers, or not.
- Author
Daniel Williams
