Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is shaking his head. Is it the case that bingo is a form of entertainment? Is it valid to say that with this form of entertainment in which a lot of people participate, enjoy and get a lot of satisfaction from, there should be an imposition of a requirement to donate 25% of the proceeds to charity? How fair is that as an approach? If the Government is saying that about fundraising, that is one thing. I am not setting these down as being my firm beliefs but I am asking if there is an issue with requiring a commercial operation to make a 25% contribution to charity. The other aspect is the limit of 50% of the takings going into the prize fund. Again, I have to say I do not know a huge amount about the economics or mechanics of bingo but my understanding is there is flexibility in that. Sometimes 80% of the pot might be given back in prize money and sometimes it might be less. Much of the flexibility that currently exists is used to create excitement, to encourage more business and to encourage people to come back or on a quiet night, more than 50% of the takings might go out on prize money. Those are the arguments that are made. There is an extent to which the priorities are skewed in this.

I admit straight off I was not involved on Committee Stage at all but it strikes me that some of the big problems associated with gambling in this country are not being addressed in this legislation. For example, we are not getting the regulator and we are increasing the stake in a way that is likely to cause more social problems for people who have addiction problems. At the same time, the Government is including bingo in gaming and gambling when that is not what it actually is because there is no legal definition of bingo.

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