James Browne has said public health and wellbeing will be the main priority of the new Irish gambling regulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Ireland.- The minister of state for justice, James Browne<\/strong>, has pledged to introduce legislation in September to reform Irish gambling and create an “extremely powerful” gambling regulator by the end of the year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A bill to overhaul Irish gambling was introduced eight years ago but never passed. Since then, there have been increasing calls for tougher regulation of the sector, including calls for a ban on gambling ads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, expressed his own concerns on the matter, criticising “dangerous” gambling advertising<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Browne says a regulator will now be in place by the end of the year, and that public health will be its main priority. He said the regulator would eventually have 100 employees<\/strong>. It will have the power to develop regulations and codes of standards and to impose fines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said: “It\u2019s really important to understand that it is not simply a regulator, but they will have a public health remit as their primary focus in every decision and recommendation they will make.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n