Flutter Entertainment PLC (FLTR) has announced new safer gambling measures in Ireland that include an outright ban on the use of credit cards on all customer accounts.
Flutter’s Irish brands including SkyBet, Paddy Power, and Betfair will stop accepting credit card payments by mid-April from both online and retail customers.
Other safer gambling measures introduced by Flutter include a pre-watershed whistle-to-whistle ban on advertising during live sporting events televised earlier than 9pm. The ban will run from 5 minutes before the event until 5 minutes after it ends and is expected to come into effect on May 1st.
The company has also committed to put 1% of all Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) towards research, education, and treatment of problem gambling by 2023. The company expects to donate €1.25 million in 2021 which could rise to as much as €3 million by 2023.
Explaining why these new measures have been introduced, Flutter UK & Ireland CEO Conor Grant said:
“We welcome the Irish Government’s commitment to introducing gambling regulation during its lifetime, but gambling operators must act responsibly without being required to do so.”
Grant went on to add:
“We recognise that gambling has undergone a technological transformation over the past two decades. The influence of the smartphone, social media, and on-demand streaming has been profound.
“We have not always got it right as an industry and we must ensure collectively that we are doing all we can to prevent problem gambling. The reality is that protection and promotion measures will continue to evolve over time and new measures will need to be considered to promote moderation, safety and enjoyment in this era of digital gambling.”
News of Flutter’s new measures comes just a few days after Ireland’s Labour Party announced their introduction of the Gambling (Prohibition of Advertising) Bill 2021. If enacted, this bill would ban all forms of gambling advertising in Ireland.
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