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

This Bill is designed to provide a regulatory system for remote bookmakers and betting exchanges that offer betting services in Ireland, regardless of location. It provides for the fair and equal treatment of all bookmakers and betting exchanges, including corporate bodies, that offer services in Ireland. It will bring all remote bookmakers and betting exchanges into the licensing and taxation regime. This is to be welcomed.

Betting needs to be regulated extensively. If it is abused, it can be dangerous. Betting can lead to gambling, which can be very addictive. It can destroy families and lives. This development needs to be observed carefully. Steps should be taken to try and guard against gambling addictions being formed. We must also guard against existing gambling addicts being enabled to continue to feed their habit, which is immensely self-destructive.

I recall the misery caused in Dublin by the scourge of the slot machines and one-armed bandits, which were mentioned by a previous speaker. The decision of councillors on Dublin Corporation in the late 1980s to rescind the adoption of the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 in the Dublin city area was widely welcomed at the time. In addition to the problem of gambling in the physical world, the digital world is increasingly capable of facilitating betting and gambling. The effects of this form of gambling are less visible because it can be done in private.

The new licensing system for remote operators will serve an important public interest. It will prevent crime and protect consumers against fraud. It will ensure all businesses that offer betting services from Ireland, or to persons in Ireland, are regulated appropriately and fully. Section 2 of the Bill makes a number of amendments to various definitions of the Betting Act 1931 and inserts new definitions to allow for the regulation of remote operations.

Section 9, which inserts a new section 5A into the principal Act, provides details of the process of applying to the Minister for Justice and Equality for a certificate of personal fitness to hold a remote bookmaker licence or a remote betting intermediary licence. This section also sets out a timeline for the issuing of such certificates, clarifies the basis for refusing a certificate and details the penalties for making or providing false or misleading statements in the course of an application for a certificate.

Section 29 inserts a new section 32A into the principal Act and provides for the Minister for Justice and Equality to apply to the District Court to make orders where sections 2, 2A and 23 have been breached.

This is designed to offer a means of enforcing compliance with a licence requirement and includes an order that credit institutions do not transact business regarding certain accounts used in the conduct of bookmaking and remote bookmaking, a prohibition of advertising and sponsorship, and a requirement for telecommunications service providers to block access to certain Internet sites.

I support the Bill.

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