Declan Cregan, a recovering gambling addict who began betting when he was a teenager, spoke with the BBC on his struggles with gambling harm and the work he now does with the charity Gambling With Lives to educate teenagers in Northern Ireland about the risks of wagering.
According to Cregan, his interest in gambling began when he first scored a £7 win by staking £1 on a roulette wheel. He was 15 at the time, and by age 16, wagering had become a part of his everyday life. He would spend his nights gambling, pay visits to local betting shops, and with time, the issue escalated to such an extent that he would resort to theft in order to continue wagering. Before he managed to get help, his losses had accumulated to £500,000. There was even a point when he contemplated suicide, but thanks to support from his friends, he was eventually able to receive treatment.
Cregan is now a training officer at Gambling With Lives and shares his story with teenagers in an effort to prevent young students from going through the same type of hardships. His latest class took place last week when he spoke with footballers playing for the Welders U16 football club. When asked to share their thoughts after listening to Cragen, several of the 15 or younger students expressed they would not consider starting to gamble. “We should focus on studies and the future and getting a good life,” said 15-year-old David, who also stressed he and his peers should refrain from gambling.
Northern Ireland’s Gambling Legislation is Outdated
The fact that Cregan spoke with Welders U16 players, in particular, is also of significance, given the relationship between football and gambling in Northern Ireland. In neighbouring England, where the situation is similar, Gambling With Lives’ The Big Step campaign has argued that betting sponsorships have encouraged Premier League Players to gamble and that such deals played a role in normalising betting among young sports fans.
Northern Ireland’s football clubs are no strangers to striking deals with gambling companies either. While the NIFL explicitly prohibits players and staff from partaking in gambling on NIFL Premiership events, clubs are not forbidden from partnering with bookmakers and casino operators. Linfield FC and Glentoran FC, for instance, are both sponsored by betting company BetMcLean, and the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) recently announced the partnership between VBET and the Women’s Premiership League Club.
Moreover, Northern Ireland’s gambling laws do not, at present, explicitly regulate online wagering, which has led to reform advocates urging for the legislation to be updated. As reported by the BBC, two individuals who have been talking about this issue are Peter and Sadie Keogh, who lost their son to suicide in 2013 after he became addicted to gambling.
Another person who has struggled with addiction is Philip McGuigan of Sinn Féin, who at some point found himself having lost £100,000 to gambling. He told the BBC that Northern Ireland’s gambling legislation was “light years out of date.”
“We have nothing that deals with online gambling,” added McGuigan.
In addition, this June saw the All-Party Group (APG) on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling release a report in which it was argued that Northern Ireland must begin treating gambling harm as a public health issue. According to Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, such legislative changes could not be introduced in the present mandate. However, his department has been in the process of undertaking a survey into the prevalence of gambling in Northern Ireland.
- Author
Daniel Williams
