Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The easy accessibility and normalisation of online and offline betting is a curse for many families and individuals. We all have experiences involving young people who have gone online and used credit cards. Women and men participate in this activity at all hours of the night. Huge bills arrive months later. This is another difficulty that families have. Other countries have ensured gambling advertisements are followed by health warnings. This was drawn to my attention recently by a German woman whose son has an addiction. She told me that a moratorium applies to gambling advertisements in her country. She gave me an example. She said that an RTE feature on the support offered by the Rutland Centre, which deals with addiction, was recently followed by an advertisement for a well-known bookie. I heard the advertisement in question on the same day. It highlighted the benefits of betting and all the great things that can come from placing a bet. There was no health warning and no reference to the negative impact of gambling on families. If we accept that certain dangers are associated with gambling, we need to follow the German approach by updating our laws to regulate advertisements in this area. I suggest that the issue we are talking about should be linked to the gambling control legislation. That is probably a debate for another day.

I am glad the Government is recognising that gambling addition is a serious issue. I welcome the work that is being done to introduce regulations in this regard and to bring online bookies and betting exchanges into the tax net. Online and offline gambling can bring short-term joy to some people. Unfortunately, many lives have been left destroyed by this addiction. It is time for us to legislate to tackle the gambling addiction crisis that is facing society. Accordingly, gambling must be taxed to reflect these facts. Online bookies and betting exchanges should not be allowed any longer to operate outside the normal tax net. The State is fully entitled to take a share of their earnings, just as it does in the case of a local bookie or any other business operating in the State, and it should do so. In our recent budget proposals for 2014, we argued that the main measures in this Bill, which we support, should be introduced rapidly. We have proposed that the betting tax should be levied at 3%. I would like the tax revenues raised by the Government as a result of this Bill to be reinvested to a large extent in addiction services, with a particular focus on gambling addiction. My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, has dealt with some of the concerns we have regarding this legislation. We look forward to the discussion on the detail of the Bill.

I would like to mention some other aspects of this issue. Reference has been made to what was happening in the Galway tent. We know that all sorts of financial agreements were made in that regard. In recent years, we have heard about criminal involvement in placing bets. People use gambling as a means of laundering money. Now that online betting is to be taxed, it will probably be used as a means of proving that money was raised legitimately. I suppose there are positives and negatives in this approach. Someone will probably take advantage of it. Some Deputies suggested that smaller bookies might go out of business as a result of what is being done. I am more concerned about the effect of the spread of gambling. If we can put up some sort of barrier that prevents young people, in particular, from getting involved in gambling, this will be a positive measure. I began by saying that people will see this as a further extension of the nanny state. I think the imposition of a tax on this activity is a positive move. As gambling continues to grow, its effects on society are getting worse. We need to do something. If some good can come out of taxing the gambling industry, it will be a positive thing for society. If we ignore the industry and let it develop the way it is going, things will get worse. My feeling is for the families of those individuals who are addicted to gambling. This Bill will not help them, but I hope the other legislation that is to be introduced next year will resolve some of these issues.

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