Declan Lynch, in his Sunday Independent column, has been campaigning for many years against the spread of gambling in Ireland, particularly the rising incidence of gambling addiction, which he sees as a threat to public health. Declan wrote a book on problem gambling called Tony 10, in collaboration with former gambling addict Tony O’Reilly. A book published late last year by Colin O’Gara, a medical professor at UCD and head of addiction services at St John of God Hospital, is the first in Ireland by a medical expert. In Gambling Addiction in Ireland, O’Gara shares Declan Lynch’s perspective: this problem is widespread and the new government, whatever its composition, needs to show more urgency than its predecessor. Data and research have been scarce, but O’Gara believes that up to 40,000 Irish adults face serious problems with gambling addiction, which can result in financial hardship, theft from employers and imprisonment, relationship breakdown and suicide.

The advent of online gambling, particularly on smartphones, has benefited from a complete absence of regulation, which has magnified the spread of gambling as a habit. As many as 5% of the total population are at risk of becoming problem gamblers, according to UK studies. About o.1% actually develop an addiction. These figures would provoke a national health emergency if excessive gambling was a physical condition.

The Gambling Control Bill was introduced to the Oireachtas as far back as 2013, but nothing has been enacted. As a result, relentless promotion of betting and gambling on television and online is unregulated, in contrast to measures enforced to inhibit the promotion of cigarettes and alcohol.

The failure of the outgoing Oireachtas and its predecessor to enact legislation providing proper controls on the gambling industry deserved to feature prominently in the election campaign, but there was scarcely a mention in the print or broadcast media. To its credit, Fianna Fáil included a strong commitment to reform in their manifesto, promising to:

  • Establish a gambling regulator financed by an industry levy, covering both online and in-person gambling.
  • Introduce age restrictions, gambling limits and cooling off periods.
  • Ban credit card gambling.
  • Create whistle-to-whistle bans on betting on live games.
  • Set out strict controls on gambling advertisements.
  • End loot box gambling.
  • On the latter point, Fianna Fáil explained: “Children are being drawn into gambling through online video games that use loot boxes. We will empower the new regulator to tackle this insidious practice.”

    Should Fianna Fáil be a component in the next government, it should dig its heels in and insist that these provisions form part of the programme for government.

    At one time, most sports betting was on horseracing. Nowadays, football appears to be the most popular medium, but there is widespread betting on tennis, golf, Gaelic games, rugby and several other sports. This creates a double problem: these sports now have the expensive obligation to police match-fixing and the corruption of players, with no remuneration for the costs involved from the bookies. There have already been allegations of match-fixing in the League of Ireland – because in the summer season, when the major European leagues are inactive, the humble League of Ireland is a popular vehicle for online gamblers around the world.

    Moreover, teenagers are being inducted into the gambling fraternity via smartphone betting, as are fans of football and other team sports. The first step on the road to gambling addiction nowadays is likely to be a smartphone bet on Liverpool or Manchester United, rather than on a runner in the 3.30pm at Roscommon.

    Concern about youngsters betting on matches induced the GAA to do something positive a couple of years back. They decided to stop accepting sponsorship, at any level of the association, from bookies or online gambling companies.

    This was an act of community leadership by the GAA, for which it deserves great credit. At present, dozens of English football teams, including many in the Premier League who enjoy fabulous TV rights revenues from around the world, accept shirt sponsorships from betting companies and their stadiums are festooned with ads from bookies. They are forbidden from accepting tobacco advertising and yet have had no difficulty finding alternative sponsorship. Live match coverage is punctuated, without so much as a 9pm curfew, with relentless advertising from bookies, conscious that football is the gateway drug for the recruitment of the next generation.

    Gambling control legislation is long overdue. In the meantime, it would be nice if the other Irish sporting bodies, who rightly feel entitled to Exchequer support for their work with young people, saw merit in following the example of the GAA.

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