It’s amazing to think that much of Ireland’s gambling law is still derived from the 1956 Gambling Act. The 2013 Gambling Control Bill is finally moving through the Dáil with a view to update those laws, but it’s still incredible to consider that the laws were designed to cover the penny arcades in Skerries and Tramore, rather than the vast online industry that dominates betting and gaming today. In short, Ireland has a multibillion-euro gambling industry that is overseen by laws that can only be described as arcane. 

That’s not to say that regulation does not evolve, however. Indeed, the absence of enforcement by the authorities can often lead to self-regulation by the industry itself, something evidenced by prominent gaming companies in toning down advertising on billboards during Premier League games. 

In a sense, gaming companies are being pro-active in order to be pre-emptive; essentially, addressing issues in marketing before government’s take a sledgehammer to it. The point is that legislation will – eventually – catch up to marketing practices, and gaming companies are looking at ways to promote responsible practices before they are forced to do so. 

Ad revenue is multi-faceted 

From an economic angle, it’s worth remembering that the money generated by gambling advertising is not simply a linear transaction between large gaming corporations and prominent sports clubs and competitions. That ad money fuels revenue in local newspapers, national newspapers, websites, bloggers, vloggers, grass roots sports, obscure sports events and everything else in between. 

So, what will the Gambling Control Bill – if it ever passes into law – mean for the average person playing online roulette in Ireland, or the operator offering such an activity? It’s difficult to say, but it seems like the act of gambling won’t be as impacted as the marketing industry that encourages it.  
Some of the language of the bill is vague, and that obviously leaves it open to interpretation. For example, it cites that gambling operators will not be allowed to sponsor events and teams that “predominantly appeal to people below the age of 18 years”. Taking out the obvious example of schools’ competitions, how do you measure the demographics of such appeal? 

Bill is vague in several areas 

Is there a sport that could definitively claim not to predominately appeal to kids? Are sports like football, hurling and soccer more appealing to young teenagers than adults? One would argue that it is unquantifiable. The same goes for phrasing of the bill that states “Advertisements must not contain endorsements by recognisable figures who would be regarded as idols by young persons.” 

The bill needs work to give gambling companies clear parameters for their marketing activities, and there are indications that the companies are crying out for that type of direction from authorities. The question is how far do you take it? Do you ban all the association of gambling with sporting events? Does gambling go the same way as cigarette packaging? What would that mean for events like the Punchestown Festival? 

In the end, there is a balance to be struck between saturation in the amount of gambling advertising in the country and the realisation that there is a significant amount of revenue gained for the public purse through it. Ireland’s proposed changes to gambling legislation are not revolutionary, and, in fact, they resemble measures taken in other countries like New Zealand. Yet, the new bill must deliver for the industry what every business craves in the climate of Brexit – clarity.