Gambling spend in Ireland totaled €9.8 billion (US$10.95 billion) in 2019, a 22.5 percent increase in the space of a year and up 42 percent over the last five years. The increase is sparking concerns about the industry’s social costs.
The money was bet across casinos and bingo and machine gaming venues, which drew a combined €4.7 billion in wagers; sports and race betting, which generated €4.3 billion; and includes €808 million spent on lotteries, according to statistics cited by the Irish Examiner, a national daily.
Per capita, it works out to €379.51 ($424.10) per person and, according to the report, ranks Ireland as the seventh biggest gambling country in the world.
Barry Grant, founder and head of Problem Gambling Ireland, a non-profit support and resource network, described the figures as “absolutely shocking.”
“The fact that casino, bingo and gaming machine gambling is actually bigger than sports betting in Ireland is extremely worrying, when considering that gaming machine gambling is the most addictive form.”
The Irish lost €1.3 billion (US$1.45 billion) on games of chance last year, an increase of 30 percent since 2014, when the regulated industry won €1 billion on €6.9 billion in wagers.
“As a nation, we are developing an increasingly dysfunctional relationship with gambling,” Grant said. “Much of that €1.3 billion is coming out of the household budgets of vulnerable people and having a severely detrimental impact on the individual who gambles, as well as their dependents and loved ones.”
A government study has claimed there are an estimated 30,000 people aged 15 and older with gambling problems in Ireland. But, as the Examiner reports, “Many organizations, including Problem Gambling Ireland, believe this figure to be an underestimation.”
Advocates say the country’s gambling laws are woefully outdated. They criticize as inadequate a government plan to set a €500 limit on machine game payouts and a maximum stake of €5, which would be the first attempt to enact reforms in this area since passage of the Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1956.
