Ireland’s government is keen to bring its gaming laws up to date, but is its stance on large-scale casinos a backwards step?

The debate over the future of gaming in Ireland may come to a head in the next year following the news that the government is to draft new legislation to finally regulate the sector.

The country’s existing gaming legislation dates back to 1956 and consequently bears little resemblance to the realities of the market today. Like a pendulum, however, political opinion in Ireland swings from passive tolerance of gaming to aggressive condemnation… And back again. Now it seems the government is keen to address all forms of gaming, including both bricks and mortar and online casinos. Yet despite this new sense of urgency, is new Minister of Justice Alan Shatter merely the latest in a long line of politicians to suggest that regulating the gaming market is a key priority?

Shatter’s vision for future gaming legislation has no place for the Tipperary Venue, the so-called super casino planned for a site close to the town of Two-Mile Borris. It is project that many believe had actually spurred the government into action but now seems at odds with the government’s current policy.

“My feeling on the whole issue is that Alan Shatter and the previous Ministers of Justice have missed the boat on the whole issue of gaming legislation,” says gaming consultant JJ Woods, of Atlantic Casino Consultants. “They had a golden opportunity in the past to capitalise upon the mess that the UK made out of de-regulation but did nothing. They have also watched other jurisdictions like the Isle of Man, Alderney, Malta and Gibraltar reap the benefits of the online side of the business and even watched Irish companies setting up their servers in those countries and have not reacted in any way. Instead they have allowed our country to become a foster home for online companies that have been thrown out of America for serious charges, including fraud and money laundering, thus destroying our reputation before we even get started.”  

Unlike the majority of markets in western Europe, Ireland has no defined law governing casinos. As such, they are illegal. In reality, however, the country boasts as many as 45 private members’ clubs offering table games and, more recently, slots. The loophole that exists within the law has allowed such clubs to flourish, particularly in recent years as the popularity of games such as poker has grown enormously.

Slot machines are located throughout the country, mostly in arcades and often standing side-by-side with other coin-operated amusements. This sector of the market is actually regulated to a certain degree, with both the premises and each machine located there requiring a licence. There are no specific licences or government approvals required to sell or distribute machines in Ireland, and so while some companies wary of operating in unregulated markets have steered clear, less sensitive ones have enjoyed a significant market share. Some members’ clubs, which tended to include only table games, have now begun to install slots without licences seemingly in open defiance of the government and the arcades.

This report can be found in full in the November 2011 issue of InterGaming magazine.