Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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490. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the Gambling Control Bill 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1665/19]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Government granted permission to review the 2013 General Scheme of the Gambling Control Bill by way of Decision of 10 January 2018.

To advance this review, I chaired an Inter-Departmental Working Group on Gambling, comprising all stakeholder Departments and the Office of the Attorney General. The Group met on 5 occasions between February and June of 2018 and reviewed all of the provisions of the 2013 Scheme. The Group and officials in my Department continue to study developments.

The Group is currently finalising its Report, with a final meeting scheduled for late January 2019. I hope to bring the Group's report to Government for consideration as soon as possible after this meeting.

The Group in its deliberations had particular regard to the Government's preference for the establishment of an independent regulatory authority as set out in its Decision of 10 January 2018.