The Irish Republican Party Fianna Fáil is calling for the Government to urgently tackle the existing gambling legislation that it has described as “dysfunctional” and claimed it to be clearing the path to online gambling addiction.
Limerick TD Niall Collins explained that currently, online gambling in the country remains widely unregulated and requires urgent action from the Government, as the latter must guarantee the safety of local people. Mr Collins reminded that thousands of people have had their lives and the lives of their families destroyed due to their inability to control a spiralling addiction to gambling activities.
He further reminded that the existing gambling legislation of Ireland is out of date, as it dates back to the 1950s, which makes it inadequate for the constantly changing gambling environment and latest developments in the sector. Mr Collins also noted that the responsibility for control and regulation of the gaming and gambling sector is currently divided between several Government departments which is also inefficient and needs to be changed.
For some time now, campaigners have been calling for the Irish Government to take measures and make the country’s gambling laws more up-to-date in order to correspond to the online gambling’s rising need of proper regulation, especially considering the fact that thousands of people have been affected by problem gambling. According to Mr Collins, there has been recent evidence that online gambling will get even bigger, which would make control even harder in case of a major economic crisis.
Lack of Suitable Gambling Legislation Is a Problem, Anti-Gambling Campaigners Say
As reported by The Irish Examiner, a senior addiction counsellor has recently warned that more female gamblers are reaching out for help because they have found it hard to control their gambling habits.
Niall Collins has also reminded that three years ago, his party introduced a bill aimed at establishing a gambling regulatory body but the proposed piece of legislation had no success. Now, he claims that things in the sector are totally out of control. A new gaming and lottery bill was ready in 2019 but it also failed to proceed any further. Mr Collins, however, reminded that the drafting of the bill is still in place, so it would not be too hard for the Government to take it into consideration once again.
According to Mr Collins, people in Ireland spend more money per capita on gambling than people in any other country in the territory of Europe. The problem is that there is no adequate gambling legislation to deal with the mess that exists in the Irish gambling industry.
Back in 2013, a gambling bill was presented by the then-Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, but the proposal lost traction as soon as he left the office. Now, campaigners have been insisting that gambling matters should be placed as a priority for the Government as comprehensive new gambling legislation is necessary in order for the country to deal with the way gambling has evolved over the last decade.
- Author
Daniel Williams
