Latest news with #GamblingRegulatoryAuthorityofIreland
RTÉ News
03-07-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Study finds inducements lead to gamblers spending more
A new study has found that gambling companies encourage people to gamble more than they would otherwise, through special offers and inducements. The study, commissioned by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), the Department of Justice and undertaken by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found that these offers encourage people to gamble more, even when poor odds on a bet are offered. Special offers or inducements, such as free bets and moneyback guarantees, are regularly used by gambling companies in their marketing campaigns. The study found that vulnerable people, such as those at higher risk of becoming problem gamblers, were most at risk of gambling more and losing more as a result of being offered inducements. As part of the study, 622 men under 40 were given money to place up to six realistic bets on the Euro 2024 football tournament. Half of the participants, who were randomly selected, were offered inducements, which led to them spending 10% more than those who were not offered inducements. The inducements also reduced the number of participants opting not to bet by nearly half. Inducement bets that were designed as "bad", showing odds far below market rates, were undertaken by participants in this group, who were three times more likely to spend money on "bad" bets. Participants were surveyed after the study on their knowledge and understanding of inducements. Even amongst regular betters, most did not know that there were restrictions on free bets and that they would not receive their stake back if they won a free bet. Inducements soon to be an offence Under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, inducements or encouragements to gamble further will soon be an offence and licensed operators will no longer be allowed to offer free bets. Multiple European countries have also begun to regulate inducements. "I very much welcome this research from the ESRI examining the impact of inducements to gamble on gambling behaviours. Having a clear evidence base is critically important to the GRAI as we commence our work in regulating the gambling industry," said Paul Quinn, GRAI Chairperson. "This study clearly indicates the damaging effect of certain practices around inducements. It underlines the importance of the provisions of the Gambling Regulation Act in limiting a person's exposure to inducements to gamble. "We look forward to working with Minister O'Callaghan in addressing the issue as we implement the new regulations," he added. GRAI CEO, Anne-Marie Caulfield said that the study highlighted a lack of public knowledge regarding inducements to bet. "The impact of these inducements go beyond simple marketing by betting companies," she said. "It is our responsibility to ensure that gambling operators do not encourage excessive or compulsive gambling behaviour, and that we protect vulnerable people in our society, such as children and young people and those more likely to experience gambling harm. "The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 sets out obligations for licensees in the way in which inducements can be offered, including a ban on targeted inducements, and the findings of this study affirm these measures," she added. Increase in online gambling ESRI Research Officer Diarmuid Ó Ceallaigh said that there had been "huge growth" in online gambling over the last decade. "There's a lot more risk associated around online gambling because of the fact that you just can't get away from it if you have a gambling problem," he said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland. "At least if it was a bookmakers, they have to close at night, whereas you just have 24/7 access to your phone with online gambling and it's more difficult to control it." Mr Ó Ceallaigh said the difference between these inducements and offers on other products is that gambling is highly addictive. "The fundamental difference between, say an offer on a gambling product and an offer on something like clothes, is that gambling is a highly addictive product and there's a high rate of problem gambling in Ireland," he said. "We showed in a report two years ago that one in 30 adults in Ireland suffer from problem gambling, so there's a fundamental difference there." Mr Ó Ceallaigh said that the implications of the study show that these offers pose a real risk of financial harm, particularly to vulnerable people. "There's certainly a case there for restrictions and regulation of inducements or offers to go beyond what's currently legislated", he added.
The Journal
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Journal
ESRI and gambling regulator studied gambling promotions by having participants bet on the Euros
A STUDY CONDUCTED by the Economic and social Research Institute has found that when gamblers are presented with offers of free bets and moneyback guarantees, they bet more. The ESRI has said the findings of the study show a need for stricter regulations on the gambling industry, especially when it comes to offers designed to encourage more betting. The research, which was funded by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), used a controlled experiment involving 622 men interested in the Euro 2024 football competition. The men were randomly split into two groups – one which was presented with offers, or 'inducements', and one which was not. The experiment was conducted using a bespoke gambling system that was not connected to any betting company. The participants were given money to place up to six 'realistic' bets on Euro games. After the study, all unspent money and winnings were converted into raffle entries to win a €100 voucher, which the ESRI's Dr Diarmaid Ó Ceallaigh told The Journal was 'standard practice' in experiments of this kind. The article documenting the experiment said this raffle system ensured that the participants' choices were 'incentive-compatible'. 'The more money participants ended up with, the better their chances of winning €100.' The odds for most of the bets were set at the market rate at the time of the study, but some bets carried odds that were much less favourable, referred to in the study as 'bad bets'. Advertisement According to the ESRI report on the study, 'For these 'bad bets', even if the bet came with an offer, participants would be better off choosing something else or not betting at all'. 'Without offers, less than 10% of participants chose bad bets. But when the inducements were presented, people were three times more likely to choose a bad bet and they spent three times more on them,' the ESRI's report on the study said. The results of the study indicated that once gamblers are presented with inducements, they bet more than those who were not given such offers. Before seeing any offers, both groups bet similar amounts on their first bet, the ESRI report said. 'But once the group presented with offers had received a first free bet, they proceeded to bet more than the other group on every subsequent bet and were less likely to opt not to bet.' These offers also affected people at risk of problem gambling. 'Participants with higher scores on a standard measure of problem gambling bet even more after receiving offers, although this effect was somewhat weaker among those with the very highest scores on the problem gambling measure.' After the experiment, the participants answered questions about their understanding of the offers. 'Even though most of the participants were regular bettors, most did not realise that there were restrictions on free bets, and many did not know that they would not receive their stake back if they won a free bet, both of which are standard practice in the market,' the ESRI said. The ESRI concluded that the findings of the study 'imply that inducements to gamble are not merely a tool for marketing, but pose a risk of financial harm, particularly among vulnerable groups'. The findings support arguments for stricter regulation of promotional gambling offers, the ESRI said. Anne Marie Caulfield, CEO of GRAI, said they 'add weight to the discourse around the harms of gambling inducements and I very much welcome this additional evidence base'. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
14-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Gambling industry raises 'concerns' over new regulations, watchdog says
Ireland's new gambling regulations will be referred to Europe before they can formally come into effect, but already the industry has raised 'concerns' over the provisions, the gambling regulator has said. The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland has to notify the regulations to the European Commission's TRIS process as required by law. While such notifications mean a standstill period of three months to allow other member states to comment on the regulations, this can be extended if other countries want to submit detailed opinions on it. The regular said it was confident its licensing framework for gambling entities was grounded 'in robust evidence, public interest considerations and the statutory obligations' it must serve. Long-sought for by advocates, Ireland's new gambling laws see the regulator tasked with protecting the public from gambling harm, while acting as the watchdog for the industry in Ireland. Research it has commissioned has shown the issue with problem gambling in Ireland is much worse than previously thought, and has also shown links between childhood experiences of gambling and problems in adulthood. As part of its regulatory efforts, it will issue licences for gambling operators to legally operate in this jurisdiction. This will bring them under the regulator's purview, with heavy penalties for breaching the rules. Furthermore, gambling regulators will have to pay a fee to get a licence, which will only last a specific duration. For example, under the regulator's proposals, a 'remote betting licence' for an operator which made €200m or more in revenue would be €400,000. An 'in-person' betting licence would cost far less, while still based on turnover. Given it will be the first time they will be heavily regulated as in other jurisdictions, it is little surprise the majority of responses to a recent public consultation on the new gambling regulations came from those in the gambling industry themselves. The regulator commissioned an external body to prepare a report on the feedback it received on these and has since published it. Of the 27 responses to the public consultation, 13 were from gambling firms, five were from industry 'suppliers', three were from industry 'consultants', and three were from a representative body. A statement from the regulator diplomatically described the feedback it received. '[We note] that while constructive feedback was provided across the proposed provisions, the majority of submissions, particularly from industry operators, expressed either supportive or pragmatic views on the proposals, including constructive suggestions for enhancement, rather than fundamental objections,' it said. The independent report said 12 of the submissions expressed concern at how much the licence would cost. A further nine expressed concern at how their turnover would be calculated, while eight hit out at the 'perceived unfairness' of the fee calculation system. The report also detailed the 'most common concerns'. This included: The application of a turnover model for calculating the total cost of a licence is unfair as it does not take into account the differentiation in margins earned through different operator and game types — it penalises low margin businesses; The application fee is prohibitively expensive for small operators vs large operators (that pose a greater risk to the market); The application fee for a remote licence is far higher than that charged in Britain, and in certain other European jurisdictions. The report noted specific concerns about the viability of small local operators as well as how basing fees on turnover could 'threaten the sustainability of specialised betting offerings in the Irish market'. It also delved into concerns about the 'potential compliance cost and overall regulatory costs' firms with face despite the 'strong support" for the measures. In other words, concerns abound about how much adhering to its obligations will all cost. 'Many operators and their representative bodies ask for close engagement with the industry as standards are being developed, to enable industry players prepare and build their systems and capability accordingly,' the report said. Even in welcoming the industry's 'constructive feedback', the gambling regulator hit back in parts of its response. 'Where concerns were raised, these often stemmed from misunderstandings or divergent interpretations of terms within the act, such as 'turnover'.' it said. 'The GRAI commits to address the misunderstanding of terms/definitions through guidance documents in the future.' It also said the fees it would be setting were 'not directly comparable with the UK', in the face of criticism from some companies, and this was due to the differences in how the regulator is structured and its responsibilities. 'Market size variations, differences in taxation policies and sectors that are regulated by regulators in other jurisdictions also mean that the cross-jurisdiction comparisons are not comparing like-for-like,' it said. All of this, however, remains a precursor to the actual work getting under way. Consultation, the regulator said, would remain ongoing as it implements its licensing framework to bring the companies under its regime. In the UK, the Gambling Commission has in the past dished out hefty multi-million pound fines for breaches of its rules. The regulator here will have similar powers to mete out such penalties. Given it now has to notify its regulations to Europe, it will still be some time before we see that in action.
Irish Examiner
27-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Gambling is a ticking time bomb and we can't ignore it any longer
After years of burying our heads in the sand on what a massive problem gambling is in this country, the last few years have seen a step change in our understanding of the issue. This is in no small part down to the country's first gambling regulator. Even though it was only formally established earlier this year, it spent the years prior in the background, commissioning the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to delve into the extent of the problem. Its reports make for sobering reading. And shows just how much Ireland has to do to catch up on what experts have described as a 'public health emergency'. Even just take the headline findings: 'One in 30 adults in Ireland suffers from problem gambling — 10 times higher than previously thought.' Take your class at school, and at least one of them has a gambling problem. A more recent study reported 'strong links between childhood experiences of gambling and problem gambling in adulthood.' Britain got its regulator nearly 20 years ago tasked with holding to account what was then a growing industry, where the traditional betting shop was beginning to be superseded by gambling apps on our phones — essentially a casino in all of our pockets. In 2025, it's a multi-billion euro industry embedded into every facet of sport around the world. For a very long time now, watching a football game has meant being bombarded with gambling adverts during the game itself and in the ad breaks. You can 'build' your own bets now for what you think will happen in a football game. Sitting around watching a game in a pub with friends, and you'll inevitably hear someone who says he needs one player to have two shots, another player to commit two fouls and another to get a yellow card. The fiver he put on it might get him a few hundred euro. And this is normal now. It's how so many people engage with the sports they grew up loving. Through betting. Anne Marie Caulfield is the CEO of the newly established Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland. Picture: GRAI Of course, for many people, it's a relatively harmless hobby. They're up and they're down, and they may have a good time riding those waves. But what we have seen as the regulator tasked with holding these companies to account finally gets its powers, is how much harm it's doing too. And how wary we need to be about the impact the availability and promotion of gambling is having on younger generations. Last week, the latest European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs was published. It surveyed 114,000 students aged 15-16 across 37 European countries including Ireland last year. While it found the use of cannabis, cigarettes, and alcohol is falling among Irish teens, gambling is on the rise: 29.1% of Irish people in that age group had gambled in the last year. This was an increase from 24% in 2019. To be clear, it's illegal for children to gamble. But they are doing so anyway. And we have those studies now that link exposure to gambling in childhood to problem gambling later in life. There's even a link between gaming and gambling, according to recent research. The ESRI said there was a strong correlation between online gaming in older teenagers and online gambling and gambling frequency by the age of 20. The researchers said there is increasing concern among parents, researchers, and policy makers about the availability of gambling in modern life. They also noted there has been a greater gamblification of gaming through the introduction of loot boxes, skins, and social casino games in recent years which did not exist two decades ago. 'Given the rapidly evolving nature of online gaming and gambling, ongoing monitoring of these behaviours in younger and older cohorts is crucial,' the researchers said. Issuing its reaction to the European statistics, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland made clear that protecting children is firmly within its remit and is something it takes very seriously. 'One of the principle aims of the Gambling Regulation Act is to protect young people from the harms of gambling,' it said. Child protection is one of the key principles of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, and will therefore be a major focus of our work. The act has not yet been fully commenced, but when it is Ireland will have the heaviest penalties in the EU for allowing children to engage in gambling. When that act is fully commenced, an entity allowing a child to gamble could face an eight-year jail term. It will also be an offence for gambling companies to target children with branded clothes and merchandise. An advertising watershed will also come in, similar to what's in place now for alcohol, where gambling adverts will be banned on TV and radio between the hours of 5.30am and 9pm. And, unlike the alcohol industry which has skillfully evaded advertising curbs by pushing their 0.0 products, it does appear there is little leeway for the gambling companies to perform similar feats to still push their products on TV during the day. And the penalties for breaching the laws could be significant. Financial sanctions can reach up to €20m or 10% of a company's turnover, whichever is higher. In the UK, some of the big betting firms are routinely fined millions of pounds for breaching the law. It remains to be seen if we will see the same here. On a recent trip to the US for work, it was astonishing to see how much the betting industry has gotten its claws into young men, in particular, as online gambling has surged in popularity there. With top celebrities on their gambling ads pushing these products, it did beg the question of whether America will regret allowing online gambling to proliferate so much there unimpeded. It's a ticking public health time bomb. And one this country can't ignore. Ireland has gotten plenty of new quangos in recent years tasked with holding sectors making billions of euro to account. Coimisiún na Meán is tasked with regulating the big social media firms based here, and at a recent press conference one of its top officials diplomatically said there'd been 'pushback' by some of these companies to being regulated, similar to the experience of the Data Protection Commission, which operates in a similar sphere. Both of those regulators can dish out massive fines, as can the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland. What its own research and the recent European figures show is that finally getting to grips with problem gambling in Ireland could not be more urgent.
Irish Examiner
21-05-2025
- Irish Examiner
Ireland to impose 'heaviest penalties' in Europe on companies that allow children to gamble
Ireland will soon have the 'heaviest penalties' in Europe for companies that allow children to gamble, the industry regulator has said. The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland made the statement in response to a new European-wide survey that showed a significant increase in young people in Ireland who have gambled in the last year. The data also showed that rates of gambling among young people here are well above the European average. 'One of the principle aims of the Gambling Regulation Act is to protect young people from the harms of gambling,' the regulator told the Irish Examiner. 'Child protection is one of the key principles of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 and will therefore be a major focus of our work.' European survey The EU's Drug Agency on Tuesday published the eighth edition of its European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. It surveyed 114,000 students aged 15-16 across 37 European countries including Ireland last year. While it found that the use of cannabis, cigarettes and alcohol is falling among Irish teens, gambling is on the rise. In Ireland, it found that 29.1% of young people in that age group had gambled in the last year. This was an increase from 24% in 2019. This rose to almost a third (31%) of males while it dropped to 27% for females. Almost one in five males aged 15-16 (19.4%) said they'd gambled online in the last 12 months while 13.6% of females said they had. There were significantly higher numbers reporting gambling in-person, at 27.9% of males and 24.9% of females. In advance of being granted its powers, the Gambling Regulatory Authority had commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to conduct research on gambling in Ireland, including among young people. A recent study found that online gaming in adolescence and young adulthood 'strongly correlated' with both online gaming and gambling frequency at age 20. When the Gambling Regulation Act is fully commenced, the country's gambling regulator will have sweeping powers to crack down on gambling operators and dish out significant fines for breaching the law. Under the law, financial sanctions can reach up to €20m or 10% of a company's turnover, whichever is higher. A firm allowing a child to gamble will furthermore carry a potential penalty of eight years' imprisonment. Licencees and owners of gambling websites will not be allowed to sponsor an event aimed at children, an organisation, club or team in which children are members and an event in which the majority of those attending or competing are children. Separately, an advertising watershed will apply and any advertising that targets children and portrays gambling as attractive will be illegal. The regulator added: '[We] acknowledge the findings of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs for 2024 and take note of the findings. '[We are] committed to fulfilling our mandate as an independent regulatory body, and we will continue to keep public health at the centre of everything we do. This commitment is reflected in our mission to effectively regulate and educate in order to safeguard current and future generations from gambling harm.'
