Fantasy leagues 'getting children ready for gambling in later life', warns expert

Statistics published last year by the Health Research Board suggested there were 12,000 problem gamblers in Ireland and a further 125,000 deemed “at risk”. File picture: iStock

Parents have been warned that fantasy sports leagues played by their children could be “getting them ready for gambling in later life”, as a top expert said that hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland are affected by gambling.

Consultant psychiatrist and head of addiction services at St John of God’s Hospital, Professor Colin O’Gara, said there was a link between fantasy sports and sports betting in young men and such fantasy leagues for the Premier League and Six Nations could be being run for children “without any knowledge of the potential damage”.

“The gambling product is always morphing,” Prof. O’Gara told the Irish Examiner’s The Mick Clifford podcast. 

“It's always changing. And daily fantasy sports is addictive. It is a gambling product. 

“And at the moment in Ireland, we have no protections, essentially, in terms of the various gambling products. And what we have to do is to create and develop protections for these products so that we can counterbalance it.” 

His comments came during a discussion on the Government’s Gambling Regulation Bill which is currently making its way through the Oireachtas and is expected to be passed before the end of the year.

The bill would give powers to Ireland’s first-ever gambling regulator, introduce strict curbs on advertising and create a social fund for problem gambling supports.

The first bid from Government to reform Ireland’s gambling laws a decade ago never came to fruition and advocates have long been calling for more protection for those affected by problem gambling.

When introducing the fresh legislation, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said the long-awaited bill takes a responsible approach to “balancing the freedom to gamble with the safeguards to protect people from falling prey to addiction”.

Statistics published last year by the Health Research Board suggested there were 12,000 problem gamblers in Ireland and a further 125,000 deemed “at risk”. Prof. O’Gara said he had “no doubt” that hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland are affected by gambling.

“You have to define what ‘at risk’ means,” he said. “It means that people have been harmed by gambling.

It means that they can't meet their bills. It means they’ve had regular fights with their partner. It means that they wish they didn't gamble, but they continue to gamble in the face of these adverse consequences.

Calling it a “destructive illness”, he says there have also been instances where people have stolen from their employer to fund their gambling which has had a major impact on their lives.

“So all the while, this product is proliferating we are presented with young men who have absolutely blown apart their lives from various aspects of the gambling product,” he said. “And it's our role, really, as caregivers to advocate on behalf of our patients."

The consultant psychiatrist also took aim at loot boxes in video games, where you can spend actual money on a randomised chance to get a desired item in a game, such as buying player cards in the popular Fifa games in the hopes of landing the likes of Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to play on your team.

“So it's that proliferation that is very worrying, and that's the kind of thing that the regulator needs to look at in terms of Ireland.” 

He called the new regulator a “good starting point” and said it was essential to put in place in-patient centres in every province in the country to support those affected by problem gambling, as well as educational supports and advertising campaigns.

“But you know, it’s been too slow in Ireland,” Prof. O’Gara added. “The response to date has been utterly inadequate, it has remained too slow, so we have a mountain to climb in what we have to do.”