Ireland’s gaming industry is still in its infancy, yet it is also enveloped by the same advertising controversies that other markets are currently dealing with—Kildare Senator Mark Wall, a prominent figure in the country’s Labour Party, recently called for an all-out ban on gambling ads, saying that the current measures aren’t going far enough.
In a statement released March 28, Wall pointed to a recent study in the Business Post that indicated strong support for such a ban, and gave kudos to Belgium for instituting an all-out ban that will take effect in July.
Wall posited that while the latest proposed measures would “impose a ban on all gambling advertising between 5.30am and 9pm,” that won’t help those with legitimate problems.
“Unfortunately for those experiencing gambling addition, this does not go away after 9pm,” said Wall. “From the moment we get up in the morning to the moment we go to sleep at night, the gambling companies know they have us in their grip.
“You can’t look at a video on YouTube without being directed to gamble, you can’t use a free app on your phone without facing these ads. We need a full ban to take back the control these companies have over us.”
Wall argued that now is the time for the Irish government to “take on” the gambling industry and do what he views as the right thing by protecting children and other vulnerable groups.
“According to recent research conducted by the ESRI, 9.3% of young people (aged 17-20) have taken part in online gambling [and] 7.2% of them are ‘regularly’ gambling,” Wall added. “There’s no doubt that the ads are pushing this behavior.
“The level of addiction and affliction in communities up and down this country demands serious action. We had this argument around tobacco. Time is ticking. Let’s follow the Belgian lead and ban gambling ads in Ireland.”
