TOUGH AND LONG-AWAITED regulations on the gambling industry – the first of its kind in Ireland – were last night passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas after over a decade of advocacy, work and delays.
The Gambling Regulation Bill 2022 will establish a watchdog agency, outlaw the use of credit cards for betting, ban day-time advertisements and introduce strict new rules for gaming companies.
A watchdog agency, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), has also been established to enforce these strict new rules and has been granted the power to provide and revoke licences to gaming companies.
Powers have also been granted to the GRAI, under the new law, to set restrictions on advertising, introduce player-care and addiction-prevention measures and regulate both in-store and online gambling.
All advertisements, including on the internet, will be prohibited until after 9pm under the new rules enforced by the GRAI. Every advert now must also warn of the risk of excessive or compulsive gambling and the consequences of such actions.
Sanctions, fines or even a revocation of a licence can be issued by the Authorities on companies or entities that are found to be in breach of the law.
Separately, the GRAI will control the purse strings of the Social Impact Fund which will fund research, rehabilitation, education programmes and therapy programmes that focus on problem gambling.
This measure has been broadly welcomed and called for by experts who, for decades, have been highlighting the disastrous nature of the silent addiction. It is hoped that this fund will help to fuel a boost in the country’s understanding of problem gambling.
Minister of State for Justice James Browne said that the new regulations have taken a public-health centred approach.
He said he was “truly delighted” that the legislation had finally made its way through the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Anne Marie Caulfield, head of the gambling watchdog, has said the GRAI’s first focus will primarily be on licencing, adding that the measures will now be introduced in a phased basis.
Existing companies – who alongside problem gambling experts acted as stakeholders and advisors of the law – will be required to apply for a licence in the coming weeks.
People with problem gambling habits who sought to be excluded were required to contact companies themselves to inform them that they must be blocked from betting for the foreseeable future.
Under a new National Gambling Exclusion Register, the Authority will keep a record of all citizens who have requested that they be excluded from gambling. During the exclusionary period, it will be an offence for companies to contact citizens on the register.
Additionally, the Register will streamline the exclusion process and make it far easier for problem gambling therapists and other player-care centres to block their clients from accessing gambling or betting.
The responsibility will now be placed on the Regulator to inform companies under these robust and sweeping exclusionary measures.
Online gambling will be regulated for the first time in Ireland, under the new rules, and companies will have to include stronger safeguards to mitigate and prevent underage gambling, problem gambling habits and practices.
Responsibilities are placed on players and companies to ensure that people who are under the legal age to gamble (18 years old) are not using accounts belonging to a registered adult.
Companies are now legally obligated to collect the personal information of people with accounts on their online platforms to ensure that that account is being used and owned by someone over the age of 18.
The use of a credit card for all types of gambling, online or instore, is also outlawed by this law.
Problem gambling experts have for years warned of the danger of using a credit card when gambling, particularly online, as people – usually – are betting amounts they cannot afford and are incentivised to continue betting to pay back debt.
Additionally, every website that provides access to gambling services will be legally required to include a parental control programme on its homepage.
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