Ireland MP wants to raise gambling awareness
The Member of Parliament from Ireland said that they need to run a gambling awareness program.
Ireland.- Irish Sinn Féin Member of the European Parliament Lynn Boylan declared that the country must run a gambling addiction awareness campaign to face the problems that they’re currently having, specially among young people.
As SinnFeinn.ie reported, the MEP said that in 2016 Ireland recorded the highest online gambling losses per capita in the world. The official believes that such a state of affairs is only possible because of the lack of government regulation of online gambling and the lack of awareness around problem gambling. “I have referenced these figures compiled by H2 Gambling Capital consultancy on numerous occasions before, however, they have only received limited pick up from a small but committed number of journalists who have an interest in the issue. On a macro level, there has been very little uptake on what is a serious health issue,” she added. Whilst a gambling study hasn’t been conducted in the south of Ireland, Boylan said that they have to trust the numbers of Northern Ireland, where 2.3 percent of the population have some form of gambling addiction.
“When it comes to young people, the government is especially negligent given there is mounting evidence that problem gambling is rife amongst their generation. Indeed, there is also serious concern for problem gambling amongst women with multi-billion euro companies targeting women through marketing campaigns. For many people the game is no longer the attraction, the gambling is, and yet nothing is been done.”
Boylan then proceeded to call on the Minister for justice to bring forward the Gambling Control Bill as an urgent subject, and also the minister for Health and Education to create an awareness campaign all over the territory. On Tuesday it was revealed that the Finance Department of Ireland initiated a review on the current betting tax regime and the possible ways to reform the system. The consultation process will close on June 19.
