IBA welcomes government calls for a fresh operator levy

The incoming regulation from the Irish Government to introduce a levy for operators, in order to aide the payment of problem gambling treatment, research and education has been praised by The Irish Bookmakers Association (IBA).

Making long awaited progress on the bill that had originally been passed in 2013, the country’s Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan was recently granted approval to update the bill, in correspondences to how different aspects of the industry have changed.  

IBA Chair Sharon Byrne commented on the proposal: “We welcome that because for the last eight or nine years it has only been retail betting that has been paying.

“At least this will apply it across the entire gambling sector, so it will catch the lottery, card clubs, arcades – they will all have to contribute.

“They have cleared up one of the things we had requested after they published the bill initially which was where the regulator would sit,” she added.

“In the original bill they were proposing to sit it inside the department of justice and we felt that it should be an independent regulator so we welcome the fact that minister Stanton is of the same view. I believe he is convening a committee to discuss where the bill is and we should start to see progress.”

Analysing how the bill could be altered, she detailed: “I do think parts of the bill are a little outdated and need to be reviewed because technology has moved on. What’s now possible wasn’t conceivable back then.

“There are parts of it that have to be tweaked, for example they are proposing when you apply for a licence for something like a race night here that the licence can last for five days.

She continued: “There’s also an issue with casinos. It’s proposing that for casinos – which are currently not licensed in Ireland – a licence would last ten years whereas a retail betting shop licence would only last two years. We’d like parity there.”

“We’ve done a lot in the responsible gambling area so we’d like to be in there helping to shape future policy and ensure it is practical.”