Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Heads of the Gambling Control Bill 2013: Discussion

11:55 am

Mr. Kevin Murphy:

The legislation deals fairly extensively with social responsibility. It cannot be the case that one uses an out of state adviser, sticks a few leaflets in a dispenser, puts the dispenser in the back of the shop and then expects to have fulfilled one's social responsibility. The legislation must clearly define the steps the off-course industry must take regarding social responsibility. We contend that, as a starting point for customer awareness, it should be a mandatory requirement that the reverse side of all betting dockets have a printed warning message similar to the health warning that is mandatory on cigarette packets.