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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tasked with holding to account what was then a growing industry, where the traditional betting shop was beginning to be superseded by gambling apps on our phones — essentially a casino in all of our pockets.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.'
Irish Examiner
20-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Cannabis, cigarette and alcohol use falls among Irish teens, but gambling on the rise
Cannabis, alcohol and cigarette use among Irish teenagers in their mid-teens has dropped dramatically over the last 30 years — a trend that has continued in the past five years. But, since 2019, this has coincided with an increase in gambling and gaming among Irish children, with Ireland above the European average for both in 2024. A major European study of pupils aged 15-16 across 40 countries reveals while Irish children were way above the European average back in 1995, they are now well below it for alcohol and cigarettes and at average for cannabis use and e-cigarettes, or vapes. The 2024 report of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs said Ireland was one of three countries with the 'greatest reductions' in lifetime cigarette use and alcohol consumption since 1995. An analysis of data published in the study — which is carried out every four to five years — reveals: Lifetime cannabis use has dropped from 36% of Irish 15-16 year-olds surveyed in 1995 to 16% in 2019 and to 12% in 2024 — compared to the European average of 11%, 16% and 12% respectively; Current cannabis use has fallen from 17% in 1995, to 9% in 2019 and to 5% in 2024 — compared to the European average of 4%, 7% and 5%; Lifetime use of illicit drugs, other than cannabis, fell from 17% in 1995, to 6% in 2019 and to 4% in 2024 — compared to European average of 3%, 5% and 5% respectively; Lifetime alcohol use has dropped from 91% in 1995, to 72% in 2019 and to 67% in 2024 (European average of 88%, 80% and 74% respectively); Current alcohol use has decreased from 66%, to 41% and to 35% (European average of 55%, 48% and 43%); Heavy episodic drinking has fallen from 47%, to 32% and to 23% (European average of 36%, 35% and 30%); Lifetime use of cigarettes has dropped from 73%, to 31% and to 24% (68%, 42% and 32%); Current cigarette use has fallen from 41%, to 14% and to 9% (33%, 20% and 18%). The study shows use of e-cigarette (vapes) are higher, with combined cigarette/e-cigarette usage at 22% in 2019 and 18% in 2024 — the same as the European average. Gambling figures, which have only been collected since 2019, show 29% of Irish 15-16-year-olds in 2024 said they gambled in the previous 12 months, compared to 24% in 2019 (European average 23% and 22% respectively). Gaming figures have significantly increased too, with 87% of Irish children saying they were gaming in the last 12 months, compared to 57% in 2019 (European average 80% and 72%). Read More What to say and what to avoid saying to the exams student in your home
Euronews
15-02-2025
- Health
- Euronews
1 in 3 Europeans have tried illegal substances. Which country is battling the worst drug problem?
Nearly one in three Europeans have sampled illegal drugs in their lifetime, but not every country is alike when it comes to their drug habits or their health impact. Regular drug use is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, mental health issues, accidents, and infectious diseases such as HIV when it comes to injectable drugs. Across the European Union, 15 per cent of young adults have used cannabis – the plant in marijuana – in 2024, while 2.5 per cent used cocaine, according to a recent report from the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Among all adults, cannabis use is highest in the Czech Republic, Italy, France, and Spain, and lowest in Malta, Turkey, and Hungary, EU data shows. Meanwhile, cocaine use is highest in the Netherlands, Spain, and Ireland, and lowest in Turkey, Portugal, Poland, and Hungary. Notably, how tough a country is on drugs doesn't appear to make much of a difference in their availability – at least for young people, according to Sabrina Molinaro, an epidemiologist and research director at the National Research Council of Italy who coordinates the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. "The major penalties impact only the people who use the substance once or fewer times in a year, so not the real [heavy] users," Molinaro told Euronews Health. Her survey has tracked drug use among 16-year-olds in Europe since the 1990s. She said that generational trends in drug habits are remarkably consistent over time – meaning patterns among today's youth will show up in the adult-level data in a few years. For example, while teenage boys have historically been more likely than girls to use cannabis, that gap has been narrowing in recent years, with girls' use even surpassing boys' in some countries, she said. Other illegal drugs present growing risks in Europe Cannabis and cocaine are the two most commonly used illegal drugs in the EU but other drugs, like MDMA (also called molly or ecstasy), heroin and other opioids, psychedelic substances, and synthetic drugs are growing risks – and Europe is awash with more drugs than ever, the EU monitoring agency said earlier this year. Synthetic drugs – such as lab-made cannabinoids and stimulants – are of particular concern because it is difficult for national authorities to identify the problematic compounds, then ban them and stop traffickers quickly enough, Molinaro said. "They are so dangerous [because] you don't know what you are taking" and because the drugs are often made in low-quality labs with the potential for "pollution," Molinaro said. According to the EUDA, hundreds of synthetic drug labs were dismantled in the EU in 2022, and the next year, its early warning system detected seven new synthetic opioid substances, which are highly potent.
