The Irish Republican Party Fianna Fáil has pledged to ban the use of credit cards in gambling and to impose so-called “whistle-to-whistle” bets in case it is elected.
A couple of days ago, a policy paper on gambling was unveiled by the party, in which plans for some severe restrictions regarding gambling advertising and sponsorship agreements inked between gambling operators and professional sports clubs. Fianna Fáil further pledged to establish a special regulatory body to monitor and control the country’s gambling sector by the end of 2020, if it gets enough votes to make it into the Government.
The policy in question was officially announced by justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan and Lisa Chambers, Mayo TD, amid the political party’s campaign.
For the time being, Ireland has no adequate gambling legislation and regulation, as the country’s gambling laws have not been updated for a long time and the sector has seen great development in the last twenty years.
So-called in-game betting, or whistle-to-whistle betting, on the other hand, has also been quite popular among gamblers in the UK and Ireland. It offers users the chance to place wagers during the course of a sports event but the practice has been anathematized by anti-gambling campaigners, as they believe that it could push gambling addicts to uncontrollable and dangerous gambling.
Justice Spokesman of Fianna Fáil Says Irish Gambling Sector Remains Highly Unregulated
Recent research in Britain has shown that every one in five people who uses credit cards to place bets has a gambling problem. The practice has been considered dangerous and the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has revealed a credit card ban from gambling that is set to come into effect in April 2020.
Mr O’Callaghan shared that the development of technologies and online gambling has provided people with the chance to gamble with credit cards and money they do not actually own literally anytime, which is much worse than the good old gambling services offered by local bookmakers. In the briefing on Tuesday, he confirmed the plans of Fianna Fáil to establish a gambling watchdog that is to be funded by a levy imposed on the gambling companies that offer their services in Ireland.
The justice spokesman also criticised Fine Gael, saying that in the nine years it has spent in the Government, it has made many promises for changes in the country’s gambling sector, but it had failed to establish better structure for gambling regulation, not to mention the fact that it did nothing to establish a gambling watchdog. According to Mr O’Callaghan, the Irish gambling industry remains fully unregulated and this needs to be changed as soon as possible.
He shared that gambling has turned into a serious problem both for adults and young individuals, with children being lured into gambling through various platforms and online video games.
- Author
Daniel Williams
