James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 148 is word for word, including grammar, identical to Senator Ward's amendment that we just discussed but I will respond to what Senator Dooley has said. The thrust of the Bill is not to regulate solely children or problem gamblers. It is to regulate the entire gambling industry in the country. This needs to be made very clear here today. This is why the Bill is very big. It is because it is regulating the entire gambling industry. Amendment No. 148 seeks to exempt anybody with a broadcasting licence from all regulation of the legislation because all regulation flows from a licence. Anybody who holds licence is regulated by this legislation.

With regard to small prize money, the prize money involved is €1 to €200,000. While €200,000 may not be worth what it was 20 years ago I still think it is a hell of a lot of money for anybody. These are commercial gambling games where people pay to enter to win what are, in my view, large prizes of €200,000. The charity sector and the sporting sector are regulated by this legislation. It would be quite incongruous to have a situation where the broadcasting sector is not regulated by gambling legislation, no matter what gambling or lottery games they may be running. There are certain exemptions from certain sections in the charity sector. Amendments are being made on Committee Stage and the charity and sporting sectors are quite happy, and I have not heard anything to the contrary, that the amendments will provide the comfort they need to continue to run the games they have been doing heretofore. They will continue to be regulated as they have been.

I am not prepared to accept a proposal to exempt anybody with a broadcasting licence from gambling legislation. It would be quite an odd situation to have, quite frankly.