Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The National Lottery Act 1986 provides the legislative basis for the national lottery. The current national lottery licence, which is held by An Post National Lottery Company, is due to expire in 2013. The national lottery is not, in my view, being sold. The licence to operate the national lottery is being sold, which will generate revenue for the State. Obviously, there will be a competition for the award of the next licence and the successful bidder for the new licensee will be required to make an advance payment to the State. The objective of the licence competition is to procure a substantial upfront payment for the State in return for granting an exclusive right to operate the national lottery for a 20-year period while the State will continue to retain significant annual revenues for good causes.

As a result, the legislation governing the national lottery needs to be revised. The Bill before the House is in many respects based on the 1986 Act, which is now being repealed, but also includes certain new provisions, including the establishment of a new independent national lottery regulator. The new legislation intends to continue with the provision of a framework for the operation of a national lottery. It is also intended to continue to safeguard the integrity and viability of the national lottery, for example, through the safeguarding of cash generated by lottery sales, the approval of lottery games by the regulator and the provision of step-in powers for the regulator. The Bill provides for the establishment of a new national lottery regulator, who will be independent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Government, which I welcome. It is intended that the new regulator will be funded by an annual levy to be paid by the operator of the national lottery.

The Bill provides that the national lottery will continue to be operated by a distinct company, whose sole purpose will be the holding of the national lottery. The Minister will no longer have an involvement in the company - he will not hold shares in the company or appoint its directors. I support this separation of political power from the national lottery and independence in this regard is essential.

The Bill contains a number of provisions on the regulation of the national lottery, for example, provisions regarding the sale of tickets and the circumstances in which a licence may be amended or revoked. The Bill provides that, in the event of the licence being revoked, the regulator will have step-in powers to take over the management of the national lottery.

The Bill provides for the sale of national lottery tickets via interactive channels as well as through retail outlets. In an international context, lotteries are doing more business through interactive channels. The playing of lottery games on the Internet is seen as the most likely area of growth for lottery sales in the future. This development needs to be observed carefully and steps will need to be taken to try to guard against gambling addictions being formed and also to guard against existing gambling addicts being enabled to continue to feed their habit, which is immensely self-destructive. I recall the misery caused in this city by the scourge of one-armed bandits before councillors on Dublin Corporation rescinded the adoption of the Gaming and Lotteries Act in the Dublin city area in the late 1980s, which was welcomed at the time.

Local shops face significant challenges in the current economic environment and as an essential part of our local communities they should be afforded all protections possible in terms of their revenues. In that light, I would like to see the modest margin paid to retail agents of, I believe, 6%, protected in the new legislation, and I welcome that the Minister has said he will ensure that this is case in the licence itself where deciding the rates of the margin paid to agents are more appropriately contained.

I understand that discussions have begun between management and unions on how arrangements for the new national lottery licence may affect the serving staff of the current operator. The statutory rights of staff need to be taken into account and protected and their past service also needs to be recognised.

With the continually improving sentiment towards Ireland in the financial markets, I hope that a substantial upfront payment can be achieved for the licence. It is important that a good deal is achieved in this regard as the more income the State is able to generate the better for its people.

I refer to the disbursement of national lottery grants for sports and community activities. I believe that greater transparency is needed and the decision-making function should be transferred to local government. The current position perpetuates the perception that party political considerations play a part in deciding who gets national lottery funding.

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