Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Following what Senator Buttimer said, there is no silver bullet, we all know that, but the fact that there are gambling machines in the airport in Las Vegas is down to a lack of regulation. If they are not there, people do not bet. If they were in Dublin Airport, would people use them? Of course they would, but the reason we do not allow them in Dublin Airport is that we do not want to encourage it. The State's role is one of protecting citizens from themselves in many cases.

There was a situation at one stage, as Minister of State will be aware, where citizens were able to buy synthetic drugs and we introduced legislation to shut down these establishments so that they could not sell them. The lack of availability meant that there was less uptake. I knew parents in Killarney who thought that it was okay to buy synthetic cocaine because it was available in the shop. They thought that because it was available. We knew it was bad for citizens, but they were buying it for their children because their attitude was, God help us, that if the State was allowing it to be sold, then it must be okay. We had to shut the shops down, which the State did, and that was the State acting to protect citizens from themselves. Something that was very harmful, all manner of synthetic drugs, was available because we had not made our way around the legislation.

It is interesting that the Minister said that the idea of a regulator was discussed when the national lottery was being set up, which was more than 30 years ago. The regulator is not in place yet and we are still talking about it. We should use any vehicle we can to make changes to protect citizens, although this amendment is to protect the State. I believe we are all in agreement on the issue of problem gambling. The more opportunities that people have to gamble, the more opportunities there are to create problem gamblers. Australia is a great example of that where it is possible to bet inside a pub. We do not allow it in Ireland and this is because it has creates problems.Obviously, the ability to make a good judgment when one has taken alcohol is diminished and therefore we do not allow it. That is to protect the citizen from himself or herself. The problem now is that one can bet from one's phone and one can do it from anywhere. That requires regulation in whatever shape or form we can do it. The individual is up against a monolith when it comes to online gambling. These people are hiring the best actuaries, the best in terms of trying to draw as much money out of people as possible. That is not what this amendment is about.

This amendment is a minor amendment on the issue of those who are offering people the opportunity to bet on the outcome of the national lottery. I know we have drifted into other areas but I think there is no silver bullet. This is not the silver bullet either, it is just one more area instead of the money going outside the State when people bet on the outcome of the lottery. If they are going to bet on the lottery, they bet on the lottery and there is some return. I agree with Senator Norris when he talks about some but limited return in terms of the amount of money that is bet on the national lottery compared with the amount of money that goes to the good causes. There is a significant gulf but at least some of the money goes to good causes whereas none of the money spent on the betting on the outcome of the lottery comes to the State in any way, shape or form to be redistributed to good causes.