APG welcomes new Bill to reform Northern Ireland’s outdated Gambling Laws
The Assembly All Party Group (APG) on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling has welcomed the introduction of a Bill aiming to modernise parts of Northern Ireland’s gambling legislation, but cautioned that significant work is required before the law here is fit for purpose.
The Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Amendment) Bill was introduced to the Assembly by the Minister for Communities on Tuesday morning. The Bill is the first in a two-stage legislative process to deliver badly-needed reform to the region’s gambling laws.
APG Chair Robbie Butler MLA said: “The introduction of this Bill is in an important step in the process towards gambling laws that are fit for the 21st century and that have harm reduction at their core.”
“Northern Ireland’s gambling laws haven’t been updated since 1985, despite the fact that we have the highest incidence of problem gambling in the UK and on the island of Ireland. We have no specialised HSC services for gambling harm and no gambling harm awareness in our school curriculum.”
“I am therefore particularly pleased to see that the Bill makes provision for a statutory levy on the land based gambling industry that will be ringfenced for research, education and treatment. We understand that this levy will be rightly extended to cover profits from online gambling in the second phase of legislation, to be brought forward during the next Assembly mandate. This is an area of particular concern for the APG, as online gambling is a rapidly growing industry that is highly accessible, highly marketed and available 24/7.”
“The APG has heard compelling evidence to support a so-called ‘smart levy’, that takes account of the degree of harm caused by various products and sets a levy rate accordingly, in a manner similar to the ‘polluter pays’ premise.”
APG Vice-Chair Philip McGuigan MLA said: “We are very pleased to see this important legislation being brought forward. It is particularly encouraging to see that a number of the suggestions made as part of our recent APG inquiry have been taken on board by the Minister in drafting the Bill.”
“However, it is important to remember that this Bill is the first stage in a longer process to modernise our gambling laws. There is a vast range of new gambling products and ways to gamble that simply hadn’t been conceived of when the current legislation was designed.”
“The APG has recently concluded an inquiry into future regulation of gambling in Northern Ireland. The inquiry report will be published in the coming weeks and will include a range of suggestions on how to make the law here fit for purpose, including regulating online gambling. We very much hope that the Minister will take these suggestions into consideration during the next stage of this important programme of reform.”