Seanad debates

Wednesday, 29 September 2021

National Lottery (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Micheál CarrigyMicheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I am delighted to support this Bill. It is important to state that I am a national lottery agent. I will put that on the record. I speak on behalf of the 5,500 retailers who have licences throughout the country. As I said, I am one of them. Emails were recently sent by another organisation claiming that lobbying took place with regard to putting this Bill forward. That is not the case. Senator Ward has made it perfectly clear why this legislation needs to be put in place.

This is about outlawing the use of private operators of national lottery activities to profit, or otherwise, from making further betting offers. In short, they are using the drawn numbers on a Wednesday or Saturday night to sell odds. That is the reality of it. It is important to note this change in legislation only affects bookmakers and not the large number of community fundraising bonus number draws that take place in every single town and village throughout the country. You may ask, why introduce the Bill? The national lottery was set up and granted a licence to provide a lottery for the people of Ireland but, more important, approximately 30 cent in every €1 earned is given back to the people through funding for good causes projects and schemes that benefit communities throughout the country.

It is also important to note there are a large number of restrictions to safeguard customers by limiting the number of sales, a strict age policy and an end-of-day time of 10 p.m. I will share with Senators what we, as agents, go through.Twice this year a mystery shopper has come to my business. Every single staff member must be certified to comply with the legal and regulatory obligations that relate to the promotion of lottery products. A mystery regulatory shopper visits premises to assess whether we have adhered to the strict rules. If one sells too many tickets or sells them to an underage person on more than one occasion then there is a strong risk that one will lose the licence. There is strict compliance and a licence is at stake for every licence holder. For me, as one of the 5,500 agents, the national lottery regularly conducts checks. Agents must also go through a yearly online certification process on the national lottery's rules and regulations.

Last August, the sports capital and equipment programme awarded €16.6 million in funding for projects with significant further capital projects due to be announced next November. My local GAA club is one of those clubs that awaits the announcement in order to erect floodlights. Over the years my club has received grants to develop a pitch, dressing rooms and funding went towards an extension for a meeting room and gym. Would we have been able to carry out these works without the support of the sports capital programme? No. I have given the example of the funding given to one small village in Longford and such provision is replicated throughout the country. The programme has been expanded to fund other good causes; not just sports. One only has to look at my local area where the national lottery has a access for all scheme that allows boats to be hired so people with disabilities can go on the Shannon.

I am not anti-gambling and enjoy a flutter on the horses now and again but the bookmaking industry needs to change. For example, we should ban the publication of free bets in newspapers every time there is racing at Aintree, Cheltenham and Galway. I accept that the Irish Bookmakers Association has put forward a number of proposals, which is an extremely positive move. This legislation does not stop the association from continuing to carry out the draws that its members do but stops them from using the national lottery numbers, which is only fair.

As Senator Ward has stated, the funds and profits generated by the national lottery are spent on good causes in every single town and village in the country. People will contend that the proposed change will affect jobs. However, as things stand, the jobs in 5,500 businesses are already affected so I just hope that the Government will support this legislation.

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