Online gambling - It’s too easy to become an addict

Once upon a time a man’s home, or a woman’s, was their castle. It was as inviolable and secure a place as most people knew. Today it seems that, in too many instances, internet access has made a person’s home a branch office of whatever business feeds off the individual’s addiction.

Foremost amongst these businesses is online gambling, worth €44bn — and growing — globally each year. The very nature of the business makes it difficult to establish how much of that is based in Ireland, but addiction experts trying to pick up the pieces of broken lives estimate that Irish people lose up to €2bn a year through home gambling. That figure is in addition to the traditional, on-course or bookies’ shops gambling.

A brief look at the figures for Paddy Power, the country’s largest bookmaker, confirms the phenomenal growth in this area. The company has nearly one million active online customers and last year 62% of its €120m operating profit came through online operations. Is it any wonder that the company’s share price has grown by 208% in six years?