New Irish Gambling Regulator to be Established in Next Year and a Half

Back in March, the Irish government revealed that it is planning on making some serious and fundamental changes in the country’s online gambling market.

So, now, the Irish Minister of State, David Stanton…

…revealed to the press that the country is actively working on establishing a new regulatory body for online gambling as soon as possible.

According to him, the plan is to set up a new regulator in around 18 months. This state body would have the task to monitor and implement the rules of an iGaming legislation.

Incorporating the Changes

Currently, the government is working on the revision of the General Scheme of the country’s Gambling Control Bill…

…and the newly-regulated market would probably be launched by 2020.

The Iris Gambling Control Bill was published for the first time back in 2013, but it is currently going through some new and much-needed changes and twitches.

Back in March, Minister Stanton approved the incorporation of a series of recommendations made by an inter-departmental working group.

Those changes include the formation of an official regulatory body…

…along with the new range of licenses.

More Details on the Recommendations

The working group also suggested making changes in regulations regarding gambling ment and sponsorship.

Back in 2018, the Irish government discussed a complete ban on gambling advertising in sports, because the state president, Michael Higgins, called for it. He was saying in official interviews that betting adverts must have no access to online gaming platforms and that sports should be protected from it.

So now, the new report also suggests incorporating regulations for gambling advertising and sponsorship…

…as well as controls that would prevent money laundering and the manipulation of sports competitions.

According to it, the government should also make improvements in the protection of the consumers by establishing new mechanisms and by raising awareness of problems caused by excess gambling.

A Word from a Minister

Minister Stanton said that the new regulatory body would have the task to also go through each and every license application and to enforce license conditions.

“Implementing the recommendations in the report offers the best opportunity of a modern and effective approach to the licensing and regulation of a fast-growing and evolving gambling industry,” Stanton said of the inter-departmental group’s report.

“The proposed comprehensive reform will be of significant impact. Without a new regulatory authority, sufficiently resourced, there is no prospect of progressing modern licensing and regulation,” he added.

He also said that the new regulatory body would have to be self-financing. He suggested that income from application and license fees, as well as fines imposed on non-compliant operators, could be used to cover its costs.

Online Gambling in Ireland

Ireland has introduced regulated online gambling back in 2015, but the regulatory framework has been active since 1956.

Besides lottery-specific regulations, the framework doesn’t have updated details regarding controls of other verticals…

…while government departments and agencies divided the making of amendments.

The new bill has been introduced in 2019 and it was debated in the upper house of the Irish parliament on March 27. The next step is to debate it section by section, while the state senators will be able to propose amendments.

Source:

“New Irish gambling regulator to be in place within 18 months”, igamingbusiness.com, May 17, 2019.