Dáil debates

Wednesday, 4 December 2019

Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages

 

5:35 pm

Photo of Michael Healy-RaeMichael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is terribly important. Anybody who understands the game of bingo knows that on the night bingo is called, the amount of prize money available for a line or a full box cannot be predetermined until people pay for their admittance on the door and those organising the bingo know the number of people are playing the game, which will determine the prize money available, be it for a line, a second line or a full house. That is the reason we must be 100% sure about what the Minister of State is proposing. People who run bingo events have been very uncertain about what is being proposed. They may be small community-based groups that organise bingo events regularly that may be attended by only 20, 30, 40 or 50 people, or they may be monster bingo events that are great and are more of a commercial enterprise and to which there is also a charitable element. Many people travel long journeys to attend these bingos. We must be sure that what the Minister of State is proposing does not in any way affect that. If it was to do so and there was uncertainty about it, we could not agree with what is being proposed tonight. We must make sure common sense prevails and that the game of bingo in the way it has been run in the past can be allowed to continue in the future, regardless of what the Minister of State is proposing tonight. It is as simple as that.

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