Leinster House, Dail Eireann, Kildare St Dublin which houses the Irish National Parliament - C: Alamy

Irish Senator Paul Daly has announced his nation’s comprehensive Gambling Regulation Bill is still making its way through the legislative process and may well have its language amended before being put to a final vote sometime in the summer.

The Fianna Fail representative was first elected in 2016 after serving as the Chairman of Kilbeggan Racecourse for 14 years and currently sits on the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The Longford-Westmeath senator also shares the same political party as the man tasked with drafting the language of the Gambling Regulation Bill, Department of Justice Minister James Browne.

Commercial Concern

As currently written, the Gambling Regulation Bill contains a provision that looks to prohibit betting and casino sites from advertising their wares on Irish television between 5:30am and 9:00pm. Advocates maintain this would help reduce the rates of problem gambling in Ireland by limiting the exposure of children to such marketing.

However, the Irish horseracing industry has warned it relies heavily on the support of gambling and betting firms and that such a move could seriously endanger its future while putting approximately 30,000 jobs at risk. The sector is especially concerned as the current language of the Gambling Regulation Bill does not exempt horseracing-focused broadcasters such as Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing.

“There’s a thought out there that you won't be able to see anything pertaining to bookmakers on the racetrack but the minister has assured us that it does not cover incidental advertising,” Daly told the Racing Post. “If a bookmaker is sponsoring a certain race and they have a big sign advertising their brand at the last fence, that's no problem. Commentators can broadcast the odds from the track during coverage and reference market movers. The only thing the watershed is affecting is direct advertising during the ad break on radio or television.”

Critical Concern

Daly believes television is crucial to the viability of horse racing tracks across Ireland due to the media rights money they receive but confessed to being ‘fully supportive’ of the main aim of the Gambling Regulation Bill ‘to tackle the issue of problem gambling’. He furthermore declared it is going to be the ‘individual call’ of every racing channel as to whether they will ‘adapt to the legislation’ with broadcasters set to be ‘in a bit of a vacuum until final language is agreed’.

“The media money is the lifeblood of all the racetracks and the smaller rural tracks would certainly get the biggest hit but it would be a big issue for the premier tracks too,” Daly said. “The media rights money is an integral part of all racetracks, hence why this is such a concern within the industry and we have been working as hard as we have on this to try and come up with a solution.”

Alleviated Anxiety

The Gambling Regulation Bill has furthermore become a lightning rod for industry criticism as it proposes to ban some inducements including complimentary bets and money back specials. But Daly pronounced this move is to focus on inducements ‘targeting individuals’ and will not likely touch more widely available bonuses such as price boosts and enhanced each-way terms.

“For example, if a customer doesn't have a bet for a period of time and they get a message or an e-mail from a bookmaker offering a free bet, that won't be permitted,” Daly said. “If a bookmaker wants to pay five places on each-way instead of four, that type of enhancement is not a problem once it's available to everyone.”