Ireland Motions to Regulate Casinos and Online Gambling

by Edward Rogers, News Staff Writer

June 21, 2008

Ireland may become the next EU member State to adopt online gambling regulation and casino gambling regulation in general if all goes well in the near future. According to Ireland's Minister of Justice, Dermot Ahern, and as reported by the Irish Times, this may very well happen if and when a cross party agreement can be reached.

Currently in talks to do so, most parties have already agreed that the 1956 Gaming and Lotteries Act is far outdated and antiquated. In other words, the general sentiment is that it's nigh time regulatory protocols covering all forms of gambling, including land-based casino and online gambling, go into effect. In Ahern's words to the Irish Times, "existing laws are past their sell-by date".

As the 1956 Gaming and Lotteries Act stands now, "public" casinos are illegal. However, private members' clubs offering the standard fare of casino games like blackjack, roulette and craps are tolerated. And as much as anti-gambling proponents would want these clubs to be downright banished, Ahern and many others think the only effective solution is to regulate these establishments in a manner that is fair to both the government and operators.

What exactly warrants "fair" will be according to forthcoming legislation, which apparently, is already in the works by means of a report prepared by the inter-departmental Casino Regulatory Committee created by Ahern's predecessor in power, McDowell. Aptly called the McDowell Report, it is rumored this document recommends strict legislative guidelines for regulating mid-sized casinos, as well as calling for a prohibition of fixed odds betting in bookmakers' establishments.

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