Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for that. I am glad to support the Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013. I thank the Minister for Finance very sincerely for bringing it before the House. I mean that. Deputy Finian McGrath is 100% right, nobody wants a nanny state. I know the Minister does not. Nobody wants to stop people enjoying themselves. I know the Minister does not. Nobody wants to hinder people's practices. When we were youngsters there was a local bookie in our community. I would like to put his name on the record of the Dáil. My friend, Mr Timmy O'Leary, a respectable local bookie in Main Street, Kenmare, County Kerry, was our only bookie. The Minister talks about regulation. Timmy O'Leary was mister regulation himself. If somebody came to him who was intoxicated or should not have been placing a bet, or wanted to place a bet over and above the odds they should place, he had the self-regulation and self-control to refuse to accept it if he thought it was wrong or not appropriate because he knew what people were capable of paying. Unfortunately, the way the world has evolved, that type of self-regulation is becoming a thing of the past. I am very glad he is still in business and I hope he will be in business for a long time to come. He was what I would call one of the old regime of bookies who ensured that, while they had to make a living, being sole traders, they were in control of their own affairs and had a respectable name. They ensured that only appropriate activities took place. They would not allow a person who might have youngsters at home who were hungry to bet in their shops. They would never tolerate that.

The new licensing system for remote operators will serve the important public interest in preventing crime and protecting consumers against fraud and will ensure all businesses offering betting services from Ireland and to persons in Ireland are regulated appropriately. This Bill replaces the Betting Act 1931, and surely be to God it is good that there is a Minister replacing an Act from 1931 with one that is more appropriate to handling what we deal with today. I am no spoilsport, as the Minister knows, but the idea of somebody having an iPhone in one hand and perhaps a credit card in the other and fiddling with buttons and exchanging large sums of money, perhaps in bets, is not my idea of betting. I have to declare I do not bet at all. I am not a good man for that type of business. I would not keep the bookies going.

There has to be regulation. If we ever want to see what we should be doing, we should look at what has happened in other places before now, for example, how the betting industry in England has changed with the dreaded machines in bookies’ shops. They are like a massive cash cow. If one studies the statistics, as I have, the amount of money bet on those machines is frightening. Even though they pay out a larger sum than the normal machines, the amount of money they take in is so vast, they can afford to give away an awful lot of money. We have to be very careful that the tax is taken. The Minister will seldom hear me say that I like to see tax taken on anything but he has to curb rogue traders and ensure online bookies and exchanges are taxed appropriately. It should not be the case that people, whoever they are, could make money and not pay tax. That is not the way of the world. The Minister is to be thanked for coming to the House with this Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013. Of course, there will be bits teased out on later Stages. I have read through the Bill and there are things with which I have small issues, but broadly speaking the Minister is doing the right thing. He deserves to be commended on that.

A myriad problems are coming down the road. When people are unemployed and have time on their hands, and if they have addictive personalities, they will go to the bookie or the pub or smoke cigarettes. We will have our differences on the plain packaging of cigarettes. That is wrong. I have my own reasons for thinking so, as one who has been a cigarette trader for more than 25 years. It will only lead to the further sale of illegal cigarettes. It will not help the situation one bit but will cause a lot of job losses in stores that sell cigarettes because people will buy them from illegal traders.

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