Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this legislation. It is long overdue. It is a lengthy Bill at more than 95 pages. I tried to read it but was limited in what I could take in. It is welcome that the Government is regulating an industry that has been largely out of control. Gambling is a big business and big business is gambling. It is worth an enormous amount, not only in Ireland but around the world, and is highly profitable. The problem that most people have with gambling is its insidious nature. We cannot watch any sport, particularly football at present, without seeing advertising relating to gambling. It is everywhere. The advertisements that come with gambling are pervasive and glamorous. To enjoy sporting activity, you have to have a bet on it. That is insidious in how people try to enjoy a sporting event that should be enjoyed. Online betting and gambling companies, however, have made it that people who do not have a stake in sport cannot enjoy it. That is the nature of online gambling.

Some people will have problematic use of gambling, especially online gambling, because everybody has a mobile phone. It is so easy to make a bet. People do not have to go to a traditional betting shop. They do not have to do that anymore and need never go there again. They can bet a lot of money via apps on their phones. These have become prolific, to say the least. They are everywhere and people can bet on everything. Most people do not win. The real winners are gambling companies. As I said, it is profitable.

There are certain weaknesses in the Bill around advertising. There should be blanket ban on gambling companies advertising their industry. I have a major problem regarding how gambling is perceived, portrayed and conducted. There is nothing natural about gambling. People gamble and do not have a problem with it, but there has been very problematic use by those who could have a tendency towards that. There is also a socioeconomic factor to this. We find that people with problematic use come from a poorer socioeconomic background. That is where there are problems with losing one's wages, literally in seconds. That is also associated with gambling.

It is welcome that there is finally something to put a stop to the current circus around gambling. Everybody will agree that there are huge issues with its proliferation and the way it is perceived. That is the issue we have to take in. Gambling companies have hijacked many sports. They put a significant amount into sport, for example, football clubs in England. In the second division there, half the clubs have advertising sponsorship related to online gambling. It is everywhere. As I said, it has to be reined in. There has to be regulation, including around how it is advertised and perceived and so forth.

I welcome the Bill. As I said, there are certain weaknesses around advertising. The national lottery is another issue that needs to be addressed. The national lottery is gambling. Over time, particularly over the past five years, it has used a lot of advertising for purposes it was not set up for. If we look carefully at how the national lottery advertises itself, it has become more of a gambling entity rather than what it was set up to be. There was a weekly draw and people perceived that money went into the national lottery for good causes. That is largely not the case anymore. A lot of the surplus money from the national lottery is put into advertising to sell more products and gambling. It is all-pervasive. There needs to be regulation and it is to be hoped that this Bill, even though there are limits to it, can put a stop to this insidious behaviour that goes on in our society.

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