Irish footballer against gambling advertising

An Irish Gaelic footballer recovering from addiction has urged the authorities to regulate and reduce gambling advertising.

Ireland.- Nial McNamee, a Gaelic football star, has urged Irish authorities to address gambling advertising and reduce the amount of exposure the sector has. The Offaly player is a recovering addict and is advocating for a reduction on the sector’s advertising.

Currently, bookmakers are battling the possibility of a betting tax of 1 percent to increase by a percentage point. They argue that they can’t afford a rise in said levy, which is levelled on their turnover, not profit.

McNamee has been asked on the tax but belittled its relevance and stated that gambling advertising is the real issue that should be tackled. “It’s everywhere,” he said according to breakingnews.ie.

“And as I often said to someone – If I was in a bookie’s today, and I lost all my money, and I said: ‘Right, that’s it, I’m never going to gamble again’, and I’m at home this evening and I see an ad for a betting company that says, look, ‘if I set an account today I get whatever amount of euros [in a] free bet’ – that’s my ticket,” the football star commented on the impact of advertising.