Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 309: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if residents here who access gambling services over the Internet are liable to prosecution for the breach of the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1979; if Internet service providers established here or otherwise hosting or facilitating such access will be liable to prosecution under the same Act; if prosecutions have been taken in respect of such breaches; if the legislation needs to be reformed to take account of the global economy introduced with the Internet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16974/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy will be aware that what is deemed to be illegal off-line is also illegal on-line, and this is the case in relation to the provisions of the Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956 -1986. An interdepartmental review group, tasked to examine the Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956-1986 noted that

" liability issues in the internet gambling area are likely to be as complex as in other areas of Internet activity. For example, in an internet environment, special consideration would have to be given to both the liability and protection of the player. With Internet operations, the provider may not be within the jurisdiction and may be providing a service which may be legal where the service is being hosted, but illegal where the service is being accessed. This is not an unusual phenomenon in Internet services. The logistical (not to speak of legal) difficulties of dealing with this situation and of enforcing the law at player level are enormous. Attempts to fix liability at Internet Service Provider Level are also fraught with difficulties.'

Under a code of practice and ethics agreed by the Irish Internet service provider industry in 2002, material or services that are illegal under Irish law will not be carried on Irish servers, and if such is found they will be removed immediately under agreed protocols.

The range of illegal uses of the Internet and the enforcement difficulties associated with such use were also examined in the first report of the working group on the illegal and harmful use of the Internet published in 1998. While that report did not examine the specific problems associated with gambling on the Internet, many of the conclusions reached in the report are valid for the gambling area. There is no record of prosecutions in respect of Internet gaming offences.