Mr. Colm Finlay:

To come at the issue of retail from a slightly different angle, retail sales currently operate through two channels. Those are over the counter, which is the conventional betting slip and biro, and an increasing number of self-service betting terminals. It is my view, and it may be that of some of the other participants in this discussion, that the prevalence of self-service betting terminals, SSBTs, will continue to grow, perhaps to a point where the over-the-counter trade might be economically redundant. The role of staff members in betting shops may be more as customer service agents than transaction hosting agents. My hope is that when all sales are channelled through SSBTs, the digital tools outlined previously by the likes of Mr. Grant of Flutter Entertainment will be implemented at a retail perspective, by which I mean channelling big data to use algorithms to identify people showing signs of problem gambling. It also goes back to a national register of self-excluded faces. It would be possible to place a facial recognition camera on every self-service betting terminal such that when a customer comes up to place a bet, the national database is polled as to whether this face is permitted to bet or it is self-excluded. If it is self-excluded, the person will not be enabled to commence a betting session on these SSBTs. These technologies are coming and they are implementable and I want to make sure the Deputy is aware of that.