The Irish Department of Justice has rejected a proposal seeking the implementation of a range of measures aimed at enhancing customer protection in the gambling sector by preventing gamblers from spending more money than they can actually afford.
Ireland’s Department of Justice had to take into consideration a proposal that sought the execution of a series of measures associated with the country’s new Gambling Bill that is expected to be officially submitted for parliamentary discussion in the next few months. So far, a number of recommendations made by the Oireachtas Justice Committee were welcomed. However, the Department rejected others, saying they could be subject to manipulation and abuse.
For example, the measure seeking the implementation of so-called background checks for every customer who registers an account with a gambling operator in Ireland was rejected. Such an action would aim at finding out whether a gambler is financially vulnerable but the Irish Justice Department noted that such checks could be easily manipulated and misused.
According to the competent governmental body, gambling companies cannot perform background checks themselves because of considerations regarding data protection measures. In addition, credit-rating agencies and firms are not that common in the territory of Ireland, which could pose serious difficulties in actually performing the proposed background checks on local gamblers.
Justice Department Faces Criticism from Irish Gambling Market Experts
As reported by The Irish Examiner, the country’s Department of Justice has faced direct criticism from some market experts who have blamed the body for rejecting the aforementioned proposal by describing the Department’s decision as a “big miss”. According to them, gambling is becoming an increasingly serious social harm that affects more and more people in Ireland every year. They have even pointed out that similar background checks, also known as “affordability checks” are likely to be introduced by the UK Government, although there has been fierce opposition from gambling operators.
Barry Grant from Waterford-based charity organisation Extern Problem Gambling, however, has noted that the lack of credit-rating companies in the country does not make it impossible for competent authorities to establish a system of third parties that can perform the controversial affordability checks.
Another measure that has been among the ones rejected by the Irish Department of Justice was the proposition for gambling operators to be held legally responsible to creditors in case they are aware of the fact that gamblers have accumulated debt and they are unable to pay that debt back.
The country’s Justice Department has noted that the implementation of the measure would be problematic as it is hard to investigate and make sure that the measure is being observed. Furthermore, the measure could be abused easily by people who are unwilling to pay substantial loans. Apart from that, the body noted that the measure would result in other difficulties because a further piece of legislation to draw up the hierarchy of parties that are to be compensated would have to be created by Irish lawmakers.
- Author
Daniel Williams
