Mr. John Roche:

Our association was founded in 1979 to represent gaming and amusement arcades across the State. We currently represent both gaming arcades licensed under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 and amusement arcades which are licensed by the Revenue under the Finance Act 1992. Today, I will deal with some of the headings of the proposed legislation that affect our sector, but we have submitted a more comprehensive submission to the committee which members may look at later.

Under head 1, which deals with definitions and interpretation, we are a little concerned about the proposed definition of an "amusement hall" or "amusement arcade", which refers to any covered area having amusement machines only and which is open to young persons as well as adults. Our concern is that under the present planning regulations, an amusement arcade allows, and is described under SI 600 of 2001 of the planning and development regulations, as a premises for the playing of gaming machines, amusement machines or other video games. If this proposed specific definition is to included in the Bill, it would mean that every arcade in the country would have to reapply for planning permission if it opts to be a gaming arcade. I suggest that when the OGCI issues licences to either an amusement arcade or a gaming arcade, the licence should stipulate precisely what the operator is entitled to have at that premises and that licence should be displayed where it is visible to the public. In other words, it would not interfere with the existing planning regulations or with the planning for existing premises.

We have no great difficulty with regard to the definition of an "amusement machine". However, we would ask that the words "or by use of credits" be dropped from that particular definition. The reason for this is that an amusement machine is a low stake machine.

We do not think there is any need for the use of credits in a low stake amusement machine - one with a low payout or a payout of what is known as nugatory value - under the terms of this Bill. The opposite would apply in respect of the definition of a gaming machine. We believe that the terminology on the use of credits could be inserted into the definition of a gaming machine. There would probably be a greater cashflow in the operation of a gaming arcade rather than an amusement arcade, and the use of credits would probably result in less money being in machine boxes. From the point of view of security, money management and so on, that would be of help to the operators of gaming arcades.

Head 2 deals with commencement, transition and Short Title. This point was mentioned by Mr. Galvin of the Licensed Gaming Association of Ireland, who stated that section 2(2)(vi), which states, inter alia, "Having a betting or gaming licence (a) immediately prior to the time of commencement, or (b) at that time" would not automatically entitle a person to the renewal of a license. While we accept that this is the norm in any application for a new licence under most existing legislation, and while we did not expect otherwise in the new Bill, we would draw the committee's attention to recommendation 18 of the report Regulating Gambling in Ireland, which reads: "The Committee recommends that in the development of a new regulatory regime careful consideration be given to the status of amusement halls currently licensed under the 1956 Act." We believe that the spirit of that statement should also apply to arcades formerly licensed under the 1956 Act and now licensed by the Revenue Commissioners under the Finance Act 1992. This is particularly the case when we consider that of the 114 local authorities, only 43 operate the 1956 Act. This is important because gaming is currently regulated in this State by two distinct Acts which contradict each other - namely, the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956, which applies to approximately 60 arcades, depending on whether it is high or low season, covering about 6,000 machines in 43 local authority areas, and the Finance Act 1992, which applies to about 100 arcades containing about 7,000 machines in 71 local authority areas. The 1992 Act is in total contradiction to the 1956 Act and our association had that discussion with the Department of Finance back in 1992. There was a dispute about it between ourselves and the Revenue Commissioners in 2001. The dispute went the whole way to the High Court and we were in and out of that court between 2001 and 2003. One hundred and seventy thousand euro later - €70,000 from our side and I assume the same amount on the Revenue side - when the Finance Act 2003 came in, it reinstated the relevant sections of that Act, which brought us exactly back to 1992. In 2013, we are now still where we were in 1992, with two Acts completely contradicting each other, which is of service to absolutely nobody.

The solution to the problem is contained in the framework document. If the recommendations in the framework document for the application of the new Gambling Control Bill 2013 apply nationwide under the normal rules, regulations and criteria that are laid down, those endemic problems which have existed for more than 20 years will be solved. If this Bill is enacted by the Oireachtas, it will be easily enforceable because it will be quite transparent, it will be socially acceptable as it will be guaranteed to be fair to the customer, and it will also be economically viable, which is very important to us.

I would like to talk about the number of machines in the country. We must deal with this as well. It has been mentioned that there could be 20,000 machines in unlicensed venues. We do not believe that is the case. The figure of 20,000 does not take into consideration the 7,000 machines that operate under the 1992 Act - we call them the 1992 arcades - nor the couple of thousand machines that are down at any given time for storage or seasonal reasons. We accept that there are possibly as many as 5,000 machines moving around the country and being put into takeaways, hackney offices, the back rooms of pubs and so on. However, if the recommendations of the framework document on licensing are taken on board, then all people who deal with the handling of machines - distributors, suppliers and so on - will be included and we will hopefully solve that particular problem completely.

We are in total agreement with the establishment of the social fund. We probably have some views as to how it should be applied. We also have some views on the advisory committee. We hope that the provisions on the hours of business will become an operational matter rather than a policy matter, so that every application to the OGCI for a licence would be treated on its merits, as is the case currently with applications to the District Court under the 1956 Act, and the OGCI would decide on the basis of the information supplied and the reaction of the local authorities and the Garda Síochána what hours would apply to the individual arcade.