The Irish press has reported that new gambling laws set to come before Cabinet on Tuesday the 19th October will ban gambling operators from offering free bets to Irish customers.
The Cabinet will also discuss the establishment of a new gambling regulator which the government hopes to have in place by early next year. At present, there is no gambling regulator in Ireland with the Department of Justice overseeing the industry. However, once the regulator is in place, it will have absolute authority over Ireland’s gambling markets and will be in a position to suspend or revoke licenses, freeze accounts, and block incoming payments to operators.
As part of Ireland’s new gambling legislation, a social impact fund will be established with every licensed gambling operator paying a levy directly to the fund. This fund will be used to support gambling addiction programs and rehabilitation as well as funding gambling awareness campaigns.
The ban on free bets will mean that operators will no longer be able to offer them as an incentive for new players or as a loyalty bonus for existing players.
The legislation will also set strict guidelines on gambling advertising allowing the regulator to ban adverts or set specific times that they are allowed to air. These guidelines will also prohibit the use of children in advertising or the creation of any form of marketing material that may appeal to children.
The regulator will be allowed to set its own sanctions for breaches of gambling laws and guidelines that could come in the form of financial penalties or the suspension of a license.
A self-exclusion register has also been proposed that will allow people to restrict themselves from gambling with local operators for a set period of time.
Although the legislation will be presented to the Cabinet today by Minister of Sate in the Department of Justice James Browne and Minister for Justice Heather Humphreys, a final decision on when the gambling laws will come into effect is not expected until the end of the year.
News that the regulator may be in place by early next year comes as a surprise. In April of this year, the Irish Senate discussed the responsibilities that a new regulator would have and, at that time, the proposed launch date was pushed back to 2023 as a result of the global pandemic.
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