Ireland’s leading political parties have pledged to establish a gambling regulator in their manifestos for the February 8 General Election.
Governing party Fine Gael said it would introduce an independent gambling regulator in order to address the issue of problem gambling.
“We will emulate best practice in the design of the new regulatory body and ensure that it is equipped to respond to a rapidly evolving gambling environment,” the party manifesto said.
According to iGamingBusiness.om, Fine Gael said it will examine the rules put in place around gambling and tighten them if necessary.
“We will review the controls that exist in relation to access to, and the behavior of, gambling apps and websites. If the existing controls are not sufficient, we will mandate the regulator to put strict controls in place,” the party said.
Fianna Fáil, which leads the polls, listed a series of policies for “safe and socially responsible gambling” in their manifesto.
We are “committed to implementing regulation for socially responsible gambling,” the party manifesto said. “This means setting out clear regulations to prevent the sector doing harm.”
The party said its gambling regulator would be funded by an industry levy and would deal with the industry, issue fines, conduct research and operate an industry-financed fund to help individuals suffering from gambling addiction.
Fianna Fáil pledged that it would introduce age restrictions, gambling limits, cooling-off periods and a ban on gambling with credit cards.
“The ubiquity of gambling advertising risks seeping into vulnerable users and children,” the manifesto said.
The Irish Labour party said that it would, “implement a strategy to tighten the regulation of gambling,” including a ban on credit cards to gamble.
