Irish Senator Calls for Tougher Restrictions on Gambling Ads

The festival begins today (Tuesday March 14th) in one of the busiest weeks of the year for Irish bookmakers. The festival coincides with the St. Patrick’s Day public holiday and is traditionally the most visited of all UK racing festivals for Irish racing fans.

Speaking in the Seanad (Ireland’s Senate), Wall said:

Ireland’s new gambling regulator is set to take control of the gambling industry in the coming months with major reforms expected to come into effect later this year or early next year. As a result, this year’s Cheltenham Festival is expected to be the last festival during which local bookmakers have free reign over their marketing efforts.

The regulator is expected to limit gambling advertising on TV and radio between the hours of 5.30am and 9pm. However, Senator Wall wants to ban ads outright. According to Wall, 9pm is primetime viewing and once past the watershed, he fears that gamblers will face a barrage of ads that could further exacerbate the harms of problem gambling.

“This is a public health issue. And the minister [of state, James Browne] to his credit has recognised this as well. I know of one man who was on the verge of gambling €1,000 in savings that he couldn’t afford to lose. He’d been through it and come out the far side, but had been influenced by adverts. We need to protect those that may be vulnerable. And just give everyone a breather.”

Image credit: James Stringer / CC BY-NC 2.0

Ciaran McEneaney

Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.