A number of charity organisations have joined their efforts to call for Norther Ireland’s lawmakers and competent authorities to impose stricter measures and tighter regulatory rules on the local gambling industry due to the rising problem gambling rates. For the time being, Northern Ireland is considered home to the highest number of gambling addicts on the territory of the UK and Ireland.
The calls for stricter regulatory measures come at a time when the 40th annual International Gaming Summit organised by the International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) is set to begin today, at the Culloden Hotel in Co Down, with delegates required to pay a pricey ticket in order to be allowed to attend one of the most significant forums for the gambling machine industry.
Leading anti-gambling campaigners in the country, who are aimed at fighting gambling addiction, have addressed the IAGA in an open letter that highlights the results of a 2016 survey, according to which one in 50 people in Northern Ireland deals with problem gambling behaviour. The negative impact of gambling spreads to at least six other people (usually family members and friends) of each gambling addict.
Seven years later, the numbers are likely to be even higher.
According to reports, there are more than 400 gambling-related suicides in the UK on an annual basis.
Problem Gambling Rates in Northern Ireland On the Rise
When it comes to gambling addiction rates in Northern Irelanд, the rates are really alarming. Problem gambling rates in the country are four times higher than the ones in the UK and almost three times higher than the ones registered in the Republic of Ireland.
According to both experts and anti-gambling campaigners, the lack of effective regulation in the country is partly responsible for the high gambling addiction rates. Northern Ireland simply lacks any rules governing online gambling, while the regulations associated with the highly-addictive electronic gaming machines (EGMs), also known as fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), are simply out of date and are unable to properly regulate the sector.
In their letter to the International Association of Gaming Advisors, leading anti-gambling campaigners say that while the implementation of more up-to-date legislation regulating so-called electronic gaming machines and online gambling in the country is urgently needed in the country, the lack of an operational legislative assembly is also having a negative impact on the situation, with the industry luring hundreds of people into gambling addiction.
According to campaigners, Northern Ireland’s gambling market is a grey market, because it sits somewhere between white and black markets as gambling is neither explicitly allowed and regulated nor specifically outlawed. On the other hand, grey markets are quite attractive to gambling companies because they are usually cheaper for operators and feature fewer regulatory checks and requirements that need to be passed in order for an entry to be allowed. Such markets are also more exploited by operators that seek to take advantage of customers.
Campaigners are still hopeful that their letter to IAGA would have some positive consequences for the country’s gambling regulation. Similarly, on previous occasions, the IAGA has insisted on the regulation of electronic gaming machines in the US, so Northern Ireland charities are now calling delegates to do the same in an effort to make the country’s gambling sector safer for customers.
- Author
Daniel Williams
