‘Gambling is deeply ingrained in the Irish psyche. We seem to have an insatiable appetite for it’

SO long as men and women live and whether it is legalised or not, gambling in one form or another will continue.

That was the considered opinion of Labour TD for Waterford Thomas Anthony Kyne, speaking in 1955 during a Dáil debate to regulate gaming in Ireland.

He had a point. Gambling is deeply ingrained in the Irish psyche and we seem to have an insatiable appetite for all forms of it, whether at the racecourse, bingo hall, betting office, private club, the Lotto or online. As the saying goes, the Irish would bet on two flies going up a wall.

In 2006, at the height of the boom, we spent €3 billion on gambling — double the amount spent five years previously. Two years later, that had risen to €3.6bn. Even in recessionary times, we still spend close to €1,000 a year on gambling for every man, woman and child in the country, if you include online gaming, betting and the Lotto.

Authorities have been slow to regulate what has always been seen as a bit of harmless fun when practiced on a modest scale. The church bingo and the odd wager on a boxing match were generally immune from Government interference.

Horse and greyhound tracks were a different matter. They, along with betting shops, have been tightly regulated for decades.

The slow pace of reform has been exacerbated by low-level conflict between the needs of government departments. While the Department of Justice concerns itself with strict regulation of the industry to ensure compliance with the criminal law, the Department of Finance has tended to see gambling as a potential revenue stream.

As well as that, Horse Racing Ireland and the Irish Greyhound Board operate under the aegis of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism while lotteries, falling within the ambit of the 1956 act, come under the Department of Justice. The National Lottery, however, is operated by An Post under the auspices of the Department of Finance.

Alan Shatter is not the first justice minister to try to come to terms with the largely unregulated situation of gambling in Ireland. Under his proposal, the main thrust of regulation will come under the control of the Department of Justice, settling once and for all the primacy of that department in the regulation of most forms of gambling.

Among the main issues being addressed is the growth of casinos which, though illegal, have proliferated in the form of private clubs.

Mr Shatter, recognising that “attempts to curtail unlicensed private members’ clubs, including prosecutions, have been unsuccessful,” is proposing a new, unified enforcement structure. While he is willing to allow for small-scale casinos, a ban on Las Vegas-style operations, will remain in force.

The fear is that such large-scale casinos, with their potential for huge profits, could attract elements of organised crime and be almost impossible to control.

In his statement yesterday, the minister said the number of casinos will be limited and every application will be subjected to vigorous checks, including checks on the promoters. He said: “Only those promoters meeting high standards of personal and financial probity will be considered for a licence.”

The historic distinction between betting and gaming is reflected in the two separate legislative provisions that govern both — the 1931 Betting Act and the 1956 Gaming and Lotteries Act.

There are over 1,000 betting shops in the state. Sports betting is the only form of gambling in Ireland that is taxed. The Betting Act of 1931, which regulates opening hours for betting shops, has been a bone of contention with bookmakers for years.

The Irish Bookmakers Association (IBA) claims that this regulation, which operates trading constraints akin to that governing pubs, costs hundreds of jobs each year. The IBA objections are heightened by the fact that it is still legal to run telephone and internet betting in Ireland 24-7.

They are unlikely to be too happy with the minister’s decision to prohibit outright fixed odds betting terminals, or FOBTs, on their premises. The reason for the prohibition is likely to stem from the fact that many of these machines now offer gaming services, like roulette, in addition to betting and should really be classified as electronic gaming machines.

As its title suggests, the 1956 Gaming and Lotteries Act concerns itself with all other forms of gambling other than pure betting and is the key piece of legislation dealing with gaming in Ireland.

The act provides for a primitive form of “all or nothing” regulation in which a local authority may permit gaming in amusement halls and fun-fairs, or may prohibit it entirely.

It has been the subject of two major government sponsored studies. Both the 1996 Report of the Casino Task Force and the 2000 Report of the Interdepartmental Group on the Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956-86 examined the 1956 Act.

The former report concentrated on the changes that might need to be made to it in order to allow casinos in Ireland while the latter report focused on the 1956 act in a more comprehensive way while excluding casinos from the review.

Report of the Casino Committee, published in 2006, made a number of recommendations for regularising the law pertaining to gambling in all its forms.

The committee cautioned that a key principle underlying the regulation of all gaming in Ireland should be social responsibility.

That was echoed yesterday by Mr Shatter, who said: “The new system has protection of the vulnerable as its primary objective. It will also give customers greater entitlements within a well-defined system and in that and many other ways, it will serve the public interest.”

Good luck to him. Mr Shatter is not the first to attempt major reform of our gambling laws and, if the growth in the online industry is anything to go by, he is unlikely to be the last.