Do the Irish have a gambling problem?

In the past years, the Irish have lost a total of 1,36 billion Euro in gambling. This is approximately equivalent to the amount of 300 Euro per adult citizen. This puts Ireland in the fourth place in the European rankings of gambling losses. Do the Irish therefore have a gambling problem?

The gambling business in Ireland is currently experiencing a change. In December 2020 an amendment in the national gambling law came into force. Discussions are ongoing about further changes and tightening to the current laws. There are, for example, talks about harsher restrictions to the gambling advertisements. Some days ago, we reported about an emotional case from Ireland, in which a Homeless person first won 2,500 Euro in the casino and then was beaten to death.

Even more Irish are discovering online gambling

The daily newspaper Irish Times reported about the data from the Consulting-Company H2 Gambling Capital, which states that the Irish gambled away 1,35 billion Euro during the past year of the pandemic. If one divides this amount among all the adult population, then that amounts to an average yearly loss of around 300 Euro per citizen. This comes up to a loss amounting to 25 Euro per adult per month.

It is surprising that Ireland occupies the fourth place in the EU-Rankings of gambling losses. This means, that there are only three EU-countries, in which the people on average lose more money on gambling. In the worldwide ranking Ireland still places fourteenth. It is significant from the yearly overview of the situation that online gambling is taking an even more important role. In view of the fact, that several Betting agents and casinos were closed in the past year because of the Corona restrictions, this is however not surprising.

Are gambling advertisements the problem?

Only a few days ago, we pointed out in an article, that currently media groups as Axel Springer are being criticised for their invasive advertisements. The Irish President, Michael D. Higgins often appeared open to a public discussion about the issue of gambling and sports betting advertisements. In his past statements, Higgins however criticised the current gambling advertisements and wants to campaign for stricter regulations in favour of player protection.

Conclusion

As a conclusion one can say, that the Irish population, spends on average clearly more money for gambling than other EU-nations. In total, the Irish gambled away around 1,36 billion Euro in the past year 2020. Now the government is considering, among other things, tightening the advertisements for gambling, so that less people are attracted to gambling. It is questionable, whether the restrictions on gambling advertisements will have a direct effect on the amounts gambled by the Irish population.

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