The United Kingdom is by no means a perfect example of an ideal gambling market primarily due to the plethora of issues that it has been grappling in the past few years. However, the country still serves as a benchmark for many other gaming markets because of its proactive approach when it comes to handling the issues it deems unsuitable, unsafe or unwanted and perhaps Ireland should pick a thing or two from this.
Unlike in the United Kingdom where the number of problem gamblers can be definitively outlined, in Ireland the exact number of problem gamblers is still unknown. One thing is for sure though – the number continues to grow every day and if nothing is done to curb this problem it might get out of hand and it all begins with the collection of sufficient data on the matter.
To put this into perspective, a 2017 report from H2 Gambling Capital revealed that Ireland is the world’s third highest gambling revenue loser per capita. The country’s residents spend close to a whopping €2.2 billion, which equates to about €470 per capita, every year. Out of these, there is a significant number of problem gamblers who lose large amounts of money gambling every year. Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) reports that in the past three years only 800 problem gamblers were able to receive professional treatment for gambling addiction and other gambling-related problems. In contrast to this, Problem Gambling Ireland, an organization that specifically tackles problem gambling issues, pointed out that about 100,000 unique people visited their online site over the last three years. This disparity is definitely a cause for concern.
More Regulatory Action
In the United Kingdom, the UKGC is at the forefront of the fight against gambling-related harm and it has been receiving a lot of help from other regulators in the country – these include media and culture regulators, all of who have taken necessary steps to ensure the industry is safe for everyone. Still, before these organizations can step in to offer their solutions, there needs to be sufficient data to support their decisions.
For this to happen, the country’s government will need to make some vital changes since, as it turns out, it has been difficult to ascertain the number of problem gamblers in Ireland because the country’s government refused to commission a survey in that regard. This will hopefully change soon as the Irish government has and local gambling regulators have been facing serious criticism because of the laxity they have when it comes to deal with the issue. The gambling market continues to grow both online and offline which means that if nothing is done we could be looking at a potential problem gambling epidemic in Ireland.
