Irish Report Recommends Online and Casino Regulation

“Regulating Gaming in Ireland”, a report published last week by the Casino Committee, has made 32 recommendations on the regulation of casinos and remote gaming in Ireland. Among them are the call for a “socially responsible and secure arena for the development of remote gaming based in Ireland”.

The report says, "The recent United States prohibition of payment mechanisms for gambling online, presents a window of opportunity for Ireland. Should this opportunity be grasped within the appropriate timescale, Ireland, as a gaming friendly centre of excellence, can reasonably expect to attract a reasonable portion of this dynamic industry, therefore yielding significant synergistic benefits as well as employment opportunities”.

The report, which was commissioned in response to Ireland’s outdated 1956 gaming law, also recommends:

• the government establish an Interim Gaming Regulatory Authority
• that a key principle underlying the provision and regulation of all gaming in Ireland should be social responsibility
• that “gaming” and “betting” be treated as two completely separate types of gambling activity…and that there should be no betting of any kind permitted on or in any licensed gaming premises. Likewise, there should be no gaming activity of any kind permitted on or in any betting or bookmakers’ premises
• the licence awarding body must have the ability to undertake in-depth background investigations into the applicant’s financial, business and taxation history as well as any criminal or other relevant records
• that a tax rate or duty higher than the 1 percent of turnover currently applied to off-course bookmakers is appropriate

The report will now be considered by the government who will decide if and when to implement the recommendations.
 

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