“It’s important to realise, in terms of the harms of gambling, it’s not confined to a particular gender. Sometimes it’s considered that it ought to be a certain socioeconomic group or certain educational background. But it’s actually across the board.’
Towards the end of the ’s chat with Ireland’s first gambling regulator, talk had turned to a special edition of RTÉ radio’s Late Debate that had aired the previous night.
Anne Marie Caulfield had been listening to the show that featured a 40-minute segment on the impact of gambling on the women of Ireland, a problem that can remain a hidden harm in their lives for some time.
It featured personal testimonies from women affected by problem gambling and commentary from Claire Donegan, the project lead for the EmpowerHer Recovery Network that was set up to support women in this situation.
Ms Caulfield, the chief executive of the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland, which was formally established earlier this month, was keen to emphasise that her organisation would be listening to these voices as its work finally gets under way.
“What Claire would say to us is that there can be certain issues in terms of problem gambling for women that they feel more comfortable raising in a women’s group,” she said.
“For example, people might be talking in terms of having gambled the children’s allowance. And the whole stigma attached to problem gambling is so difficult anyway.
“It’s important people understand it as a health issue, and one that needs to be treated in terms of a health issue.”
On the day that Ms Caulfield spoke to the from her office in central Dublin, she was also due to meet the seven-person board of the newly-established authority, all in-person, for the first time.
They have a hefty in-tray.
As well as licensing, supervising, and controlling gambling activities in the State, they’ll have to establish a national gambling exclusion register, administer a social impact fund that will support treatment and awareness initiatives, handle complaints, and enforce restrictions on advertising legislation.
“They have a lot of work to get through all that we’ve done already,” she said.
Advocates had been crying out for well over a decade for Ireland’s gambling laws to be brought into the 21st century.
The previous legislation, drafted in the 1950s, hadn’t accounted for people having mobile phones that they’d have on them them all the time that could double as a casino on their favourite gambling apps.
One of the dying acts of the last government was the passing of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, steered through the Oireachtas by James Browne who is now the housing minister. It was 11 years after the Fine Gael-Labour government had first proposed new gambling laws.
Prior to getting granted its full powers, Ms Caulfield and her team had enlisted the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to examine just how bad Ireland’s problem with gambling was, and its findings only reinforced the need to have the sector regulated.
“The extent of problem gambling in Ireland was much higher than previously thought,” she said. “It was 10 times higher than had been previously thought.
“That figure of 3.1% [of people] demonstrating significant harm from gambling and then a further 7% had moderate levels [of harm]. And then the fact that 47% of turnover is actually attributed to those two categories from that ESRI study was worrying.”
Furthermore, she said that evidence that children were twice as likely to become problem gamblers in later life if they bet before the age of 18 “really does justify clamping down very hard”.
A key priority, now that the regulator is up and running, is getting the licensing regime operational.
Under the law, both in-shop and online gambling firms operating in the Irish market will have to register and be licensed by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI).
It’ll replace the old system whereby betting operators were licensed by Revenue.
Once they’re licensed, they will be subject to the regulation of the authority with sweeping powers to impose fines of up to €20m or 10% of turnover — whichever is higher — for breaching the rules.
“A lot of the obligations and consumer protections flow from licensing in the sense that the act sets out what the obligations are on licensed entities,” Ms Caulfield said.
While they have not yet set the fees for companies to register, she said they’re trying to be “proportionate” and “fair” across the various types of gambling operators.
“We would expect it will be completed very soon, and then we’ll bring it to our seven-person board,” she said. “We will have a public consultation on it then and we also have to do some EU notifications.”
All that will take time, particularly the EU notifications, as another country could raise an issue that could delay the process. But, once that’s done, Ms Caulfield hopes that the authority will become self-sustaining and not reliant on taxpayer funding in the near future.
“We absolutely intend to be self-financing,” she said.
“The legislation says within three years, but hopefully sooner than that, as there’ll be an application fee and then an annual fee to cover all the operational costs of the GRAI.”
As part of that licensing regime, gambling firms will have go through a corporate check, a financial check, and a technical check to make sure they’re up to scratch.
If a company is found to have breached its obligations in other countries, such as in the UK, where companies are routinely fined millions of pounds for breaches of anti-money laundering or consumer protection measures, that will be taken into account by Ireland’s regulator when they come calling for a licence.
Up to now, bookmakers were licensed by Revenue but the newly-established regulator will register and regulate both in-shop and online gambling firms operating in the Irish market. File picture: iStock
Ms Caulfield also said that, as part of the licensing, they’ll be vetting individuals as part of its corporate checks.
“It won’t just be a question of licensing and a once-off check,” she said. “I mean, the companies have assured us that absolutely they’re committed to respecting the Irish legislation, and they’ll work closely with us, but, from our perspective, it’ll be important that the compliance regime is robust, and that it picks up any breaches.
“In terms of the enforcement piece there are very severe penalties. There’s everything from a notice of improvement, to fines, to suspension of a licence, revoking a licence, and also —in terms of the particular officers, key decision-makers — there also can be consequences for them.”
In relation to charities, and the likes of sports clubs running lotteries, the regulator said the licensing regime for them likely won’t kick in for several years at least.
“That’s one of the last phases, so they’ll continue exactly as they are for the time being,” she said.
While charities have raised concerns about the impact of this process on their activities, Ms Caulfield said she would provide plenty of notice to the sector and try to ensure “as smooth a transition as possible”.
She also clarified that €2,000 will be the limit for prize money after which a charity will have to register with the GRAI.
“We have listened very carefully to the debates, and we hear the concerns of the various charities,” she said.
With the plethora of work now ahead of them, and a heavy responsibility to regulate an industry that causes harm to a significant proportion of the population, Ms Caulfield said this is something that isn’t lost on her or her organisation.
“It really does reinforce the fact that we’ve been given a very responsible role, and it’s important. We owe it to those people to do our job properly, and we’ll certainly be making every effort to do that over the coming years.”
Source: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41593075.html