Irish gambling legislation: senators push for ban on ads

Committee stage discussions on the Irish gambling bill have resumed.

Ireland.- The Dáil of Ireland has recommenced committee-stage discussions on the proposed Irish Gambling Bill, which has been making slow progress since its presentation in December of 2022. Having been stalled at the committee stage since May, discussions have now resumed, with a group of senators pushing for a complete ban on gambling ads as an amendment to the legislation.

Senator Michael McDowell is one of those calling for a complete advertising ban. He warned that without this Ireland could go “down the same road as the United Kingdom”. He said: “If anybody here watches satellite TV to the extent I do, they will know that virtually everything is infected by gambling.”

Senator Mark Wall also wants a complete ban in the bill. However, the bill’s sponsor, Department of Justice minister James Browne, is in favour of limiting restrictions to less strict measures, with limited hours for gambling ads on television and radio. He wants to give the proposed new Irish gambling regulator the power to decide what times gambling ads can be shown and where.

He said: “As I have previously stated, I have concerns about adopting an absolute ban on advertising from the outset. Gambling is a lawful and legitimate activity and the bill, as amended by the Dáil, further empowers the authority to be able to react and regulate advertising accordingly.

“An absolute prohibition would muddy the waters and lead to confusion as to who is licensed to be a legitimate operator and who is not. Our intention is to protect people participating in gambling and not to inadvertently facilitate unlicensed operators.”

He also stressed that the bill proposes heavy penalties for unlicensed gambling, with more enforcement powers for the new regulator. He said he also plans to present amendments to the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.

The gambling bill would also create a national self-exclusion scheme and would impose a mandatory levy on gambling operators, with the money going to a social impact fund. There would also be a ban on credit card gambling.

Last month, the research agency BMC Public Health‘s warned about the impact of advertising on minors as it released a qualitative study investigating children’s awareness of and exposure to gambling. The study recommended that the government be wary of the potential normalisation of gambling among young people through a saturation of marketing. It particularly noted the impact of celebrities and called for rules for the use of influencers on social media.