With the Irish general election barely a week away, political parties in the country have ramped up their efforts to get in the good books of the voters. One of the biggest promised that have been made by members of the major political parties in the country includes major reforms to the Irish gambling industry.
Fine Gael’s Manifesto
To begin with, in its manifesto, Fine Gael which is the current governing political party in the country said that it has plans to establish an independent gambling regulator in order to address gambling issues. These issues range from cases of gambling addiction, underage gambling and other forms of gambling-related harm.
The party has plans to introduce an independent gambling regulator that will be tasked with ensuring gambling operators do not operate in a manner that threatens the safety of the members of the public. The proposed independent regulatory body will be crafted with the best practices in mind and it will be equipped appropriated to ensure that it is able to adjust and adapt to the rapidly evolving gambling environment. This way, it will be more than capable of eradicating the chaos that is currently plaguing the gambling industry.
“We will review the controls that exist in relation to access to, and the behavior of, gambling apps and websites; and, if the existing controls are not sufficient to prevent underage or vulnerable people from gambling, we will mandate the regulator to put strict controls in place,” the manifesto adds.
This regulatory body will be funded by an industry levy and it will be operating a Social Fund that is meant to offer assistance to victims of gambling-related harm.
In addition to establishing a regulatory body, the political parties have also pledged to implement other measures designed to protect the citizens. Some of the most notable ones include gaming limits, self-exclusion and cool off periods.
Catching Up with the Rest of Europe
Recently, gambling regulators in many parts of Europe have been cracking down on gambling operators by introducing tighter regulations. The United Kingdom, for instance, has previously reduced the betting limit on FOBTs by a whopping 98 percent. In addition to that, the country has recently announced a ban on the use of credit cards for gambling activities.
As it turns out, Ireland is also planning to implement similar controls within its gambling industry. Both the lawmakers in the country and the gambling operators have confirmed that they have been considering such things as credit card gambling bans. If what is happening in the United Kingdom is anything to go by, such measures will certainly be a great leap forward for the efforts to clean up the Irish gambling industry.
