Ireland senator calling for €100 limit on all online wagers

[The Buzz]

Senator Joe O’Reilly, who represents Fine Gael and is the deputy chairman of the Congress, has proposed a limit of €100 per bet in Ireland.

During a session in the Senate, Mr O’Reilly said that “The Paddy Power organisation has officially said that 77 per cent of its profits come from online gambling" and "as much as €10,000 per minute is spent in this fashion in this country."

"As we speak, 29,000 people in this country suffer from gambling addiction," he added. "People chase losses with more gambling, and they suffer mood swings and depression. It leads to dishonest behaviour in people who are otherwise honest, as well as to secretive and evasive behaviour."

O’Reilly’s proposal involves a €100 cap on each bet as well as an obligation for operators to display messages on the harmful effects of gambling, much like the warning messages on cigarette packets.

More from The Irish Times:

“It might be enriching some sports bodies, but it is ruining the lives of their members and future generations because the firms know that’s where their target market is.”

Some years ago there was a move to put a casino in Tipperary and they “thought the place would be turned into Las Vegas.

“Now every teenager, and, indeed, adult, is walking around with a casino in their pocket.”

He said the mobile phone “is the greatest weapon that gambling firms have for targeting their addicts. Through the work of their social media teams, they have hooked people with targeted ads and fed their addiction.”

He added that “you can’t turn on a sports bulletin on Sky Sports without it being sponsored by a casino.

Read more here: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/poli...ears-1.4483448

[mickyfu]

Slightly less ridiculous than £100 a month. I wonder how the figures of gambling addicts compare to the amount of alcoholics and nicotine addicts. I'd like to propose that alcoholics be limited to on drink a day and smokers two cigarettes a day.

I'd also like to see in the UK, the huge fines imposed by the Gambling Commission going to the poor. Considering the vast amount of gambling addicts are poor.

[affy]

..."As we speak, 29,000 people in this country suffer from gambling addiction,"

= 0.004% of the population....


1.35 million Irish people between the ages of 18 and 75 are classified as ‘harmful drinkers’... (source) "and provides over €2.3bn worth of excise and VAT income to the state" (source)

6000 people die of smoking each year in Ireland... (source) which generates the government a few billion (give or take) a year (source)

Whataboutism? Nope.. just exposing hypocrite governments...

[newcustomeroffer]

€100 a bet, like the £100 a month UK proposals, is still an arbitrary figure completely plucked out of the air.

Some won't ever place €100 on a bet yet will have a problem relative to their personal situation; to others €100 or €1,000+ on a bet will hardly touch the sides and is just a bit of fun. Try telling all Irish punters that they're limited to €100 at Cheltenham in a month's time and see how many disappear to their nearest unregulated bookie.

[chaumi]

hmmm it says he's seeking a €100 bet limit (per individual bet I think that means)..+ a ban on funding accounts with credit cards, among other stuff.


Seems reasonable to me to a point on the €100 (although there are aspects/situations where it's obviously questionable) ...and I'd definitely agree with the credit card aspect.

Anyone who can actually really afford to be placing (certainly regular) €100 + individual bets almost certainly would

1. maybe have alternative ways of getting them on
2. not have to be using a credit card in the first place to pile cash in

PS But yes agree about the Cheltenham bit, in fact horse racing would be the obvious one to exclude

[mickyfu]

Seems reasonable to me to a point on the €100 (although there are aspects/situations where it's obviously questionable)

Personally I don't find anything reasonable about others telling others how they can live and what they can and can't do with their own money. Lets not forget that people with gambling issues are a minority of the whole gambling community.

So people are now being told how they can and can't use their credit cards, how much they are allowed to spend of their own money on gambling. All this because of the few people who have no self control. All seems pretty much like a dictatorship to me. What is next from the self declared masters?

[Sherlock]

There are way more than 29K problematic gamblers in Ireland, as everywhere in the world. Maybe there are 29K diagnosed people. That is a difference.

Any limits on bets will not solve anything either way (people will go gambling to stock market or crypto markets or something new where they can lose money).

But politicians are here to get votes. This proposal is not really aimed at solution of gambling, but to get votes. Just live with that.

Anyone saying that state should not meddle with money of people / what people do with their lives and still living in 1st world country is a hypocrite. 1st world is simply based on high taxation, redistribution and regulation of everything. In Asia - which i btw the future of civilisation - the regulations are even stricter and I am not talking just about "communist China".

There are lot of countries in Africa or South America with zero to low taxation and nobody tells anybody what to do. If you do not like what is going on in rich heavy taxed countries, then move your ass. I am tired to listen to whinging of rich people. "Oooh the horrible state". "Oooh the regulation". "Give me back my freedom (mum, dad, anyone?)".

People have as much freedom as they fight for it. Nobody is fighting for it. So nobody has it. Whinging on forums is really not a fight.

[chaumi]

For debate....

Doesn't someone have to accept the social responsibility of protecting (or trying to protect) the vulnerable (even if those vulnerable are a 'minority' and maybe we don't really fully understand the scale of who does and who doesn't have - or may develop - a problem)?

And that someone can only be someone who is in a position of some power to drive it.


And let me make a point (and it might be a poor one, and really a bad reflection on me). The first thing I did on reading it was go look for this guys website...because the first suspicion was this is religiously motivated (and I'm possibly guilty of poor education for even thinking that). So I go looking for any obvious religious link...and there doesn't seen to be any.

His background reads as if he's a fairly normal guy who worked his way up.

Now yes it may be politically motivated...either personal or actually contrived by his party with him as the spokesman...but it's also possible he does actually care and want to do something that be believes as valuable/socially beneficial.

There are some people that really care, and are positioned where they can actually try and do something about it (no matter whether their way of doing it is - or appears to be - flawed).

[Sherlock]

There is a trade off: as politician you either care for common good (and you can be and probably still are an idiot, because no one sees the common good) or you care for being re-elected (so you do populism and you try to please your sponsors [official or mafia, does not matter]). You can do one or another or mix. The thing is that those ideological people who tend to be the good guys are being discarded during political competition and this tendency nowadays is everywhere stronger than ever. The money wins, the votes win, not the ideas and ideologists.

Using the only 29K is argument for laissez-faire and not for stricter regulations. It is a populism, like saying in 1M country, we should do something about rapes, because there were 2 women r4p3d during last year.

It does not matter, rich country populism is that there must be zero covid deaths, zero dead people on streets, zero gamblers, zero prostitutes, zero homelesses, zero tax evasion, zero drug users... zero everything that is bad and people vote for politicians that say this. Nobody can do anything with that until the system breaks up. There will never be zero of anything above but infinite collateral damage. Just get used to it and enjoy last few months or years of business.

[Former Member 14]

Whinging on forums is really not a fight.

Hence, why program are sticking it to everyone these days.
They know, they cop some forum aggro BUT nothing else, no REAL "fight".

[PROFRBcom]

Bread and circuses.

Provide them and then do whatever one wants to the non-ruling class.

Entertainment and cheap food are easily satisfied in the modern world.

Hence how we are where we are.

[Sherlock]

We are at bread and circuses stage, because people are weak. It is by no means fault of the people with power. Why should politicians work for people, when there is no feedback from people to those by power? Nobody is killing them or threating them. Everyobody pays their hefty taxes. People even share the propaganda how evil and mighty is IRS or FBI or similar institutions; instead just showing a middle finger.

People want their politicians. It is a deal, perfect for both sides. People can impotently complain about politicians and system, byt at the end of the day they do everything that are asked for. Because people are cowards who do not want in fact question the system. The system is part of their personality.

The main part of the bread and circuses is the complaining itself. The complaining is the circus. Just like here, we do the same in small scale while complaining against the affiliate programs and we know nothing will happen. Nobody will kick teeth out of the nasty mouth of some crook from Kazakchstan.

With states it all starts with taxes.

Do you like your country, your governemnt, do you think everything is ok - fine, pay your taxes and be good citizen.
Do not you like it, are you upset, do you think politicians are bunch of useless bums and corrupted mafia - fine, move your f****** ass out of there, or at least shut up.

[Former Member 14]

It is by no means fault of the people with power. Why should politicians work for people, when there is no feedback from people to those by power?

Can't speak for other countries, but here in AU, people complain to their local, state and federal appointed politicians. But with sooooo much bureaucratic red-tape, policy compliance frameworks, generally, it seems, other issues at hand take front and centre stage. These valid complaints, voiced by the people, who, these politicians are supposed to be serving, seem to, in a lot of cases, end up on the back-burner, and that's where they stay.

It's very well sitting in some ivory tower looking down and saying people are weak. But according to yourself, your a multi millionaire thanks to BTC.

When people have that kinda of cash, they can do what they like - they can be a nomad like yourself.

Unfortunately most people are not rich. EG - the average person in Australia has at most $3K in savings.

People like this simply can't wake up one day, and revolt against the Government.

[DunderMannen]

I love how governments focus on online gambling because it's been here for a shorter amount of time than cigs and booze.

[TheGooner]

Do not you like it, are you upset, do you think politicians are bunch of useless bums and corrupted mafia - fine, move your f****** ass out of there, or at least shut up.

There is of course another option.

It's simple enough to ignore the bulltsh!t, work around the blocks and still make a living while staying under the radar.
I suspect that's the approach that most one-man businesses take (affiliates included).

It's certainly far more sensible that getting suckered into the process and actually trying to change things in the system ...
The system is a self-perpetuating cycle of vested and monied interests.

No government or social organisation EVER admits to a dwindling of need for their services.
There is always a new "crisis" or "issue" that can be solved with new laws, new money and (of course) more power in their hands.

AN EXAMPLE :
I laughed out loud today when I read a Salvation Army report into the "state of the nation" ...
Their business is to "help the poor", hand out food parcels and advocate for the downtrodden.

That's all good and noble ... but the thing that made me laugh was when they labelled the people that they help as "clients".
Those people are not the "clients" ... they don't pay ever (the tax payer and the donors are the true clients)
The truth is the people that the Salvation Army helps are the "product".

And for the Salvation Army to identify a new crisis and grow and become more important so they can create more "products" and exaggerate the issues and the need for the Sallies.

[Former Member 14]

the thing that made me laugh was when they labelled the people that they help as "clients".
Those people are not the "clients" ... they don't pay ever (the tax payer and the donors are the true clients)
The truth is the people that the Salvation Army helps are the "product".

Don't quote me on this, but I believe they were at one stage referred to as 'recipients'.

However, since political correctness stormed into the world, the term "client" is used, across many sectors, including welfare, Gov., Social Security Payments, and has now most definitely replaced the term, recipients. I believe one reason put for was that the word "recipients" had negative cogitations, suggestion anyone receiving welfare, was a sub human.

[DaftDog]

Don't quote me on this, but I believe they were at one stage referred to as 'recipients'.

However, since political correctness stormed into the world, the term "client" is used, across many sectors, including welfare, Gov., Social Security Payments, and has now most definitely replaced the term, recipients. I believe one reason put for was that the word "recipients" had negative cogitations, suggestion anyone receiving welfare, was a sub human.

I completely understand and experienced this myself. About 15 years ago, the business I worked for went under, and I found myself unemployed for a few months. I put in a UIF (Unemployment Insurance Fund) claim and was notified that I could collect my payment on a specific date from a certain bank.

I arrive at the bank and walk inside and see a sign that reads "UIF payments upstairs." I get upstairs and join a few people standing in line. A minute later a security guard came up to me and said that I had jumped the queue. I naturally asked "What queue?" to which he replied the one around the back of the building. I was flabbergasted.

Apparently, they would only allow about ten people at a time to go upstairs. It wasn't for security reasons either as the main banking hall on the ground floor could only be entered through double security doors. Anyway I refused his request to leave and was eventually served after a tense stand-off with a manager at one of the cashier windows. I accused him of treating us claimants as third class citizens, which is exactly what he was doing.

Edit: In the above story I was the client, I had paid my UIF dues every month for many years and was now in the position where I had come to collect what was promised.

Lots of people who end up on "Skid Row" suffer from mental illnesses. Many of them were probably once tax paying citizens who held down decent jobs until something made them flip. Now they are looked down upon for collecting social assistance as if they were some toxic chemical waste.

[Sherlock]

It's very well sitting in some ivory tower looking down and saying people are weak. But according to yourself, your a multi millionaire thanks to BTC.

I am not sure if this was personally aimed, but I grew up at communism, I was picking garbage from garbage cans, just to be able to scrap pennies to buy an ugly icecream.

I was homeless.

I made my 1st million in a garage (cliche but true), where I found some junkie prostitute from neighbor peeing in my chair bc she "missed" a door to other tent.

I still live in near favela conditions (hey after 12 years in tropics, I gave it up and bought my first air condition now, because it was impossible to do yoga at extreme heat and humidity) and most importantly - I know mostly only poor people and their mindset.

It is ordinary middle class tax paying citizen who are living in ivory towers that are called 1st world countries in parasitic/symbiotic relationship with their politicians.

And the poor people - all of them I tried to help and devoted to each insane time - they all showed me and to their life a middle finger. In the end it is completely fine. I know how pathetic it is to be poor and I know how to make the breakthrough. It is not that someone helps you and the worst thing is to wait for state to be helped. The problem of poor people (and my past problem) is that they think / I thought the world is not fair. Or that state should work better. Or that someone should help. Or that they have to have at least basic priviledges or securities. It is all just propaganda that makes people mentally dependent on system they live in. Even those people who are net payers are dependent on it. They count with the fact, that if something horrible happens, someone will take care of them. Excellent example is the Daft Dogs here - nobody will take care of anyone in the end unless you live in Scandinavia.

But the life then has different shape - when one thinks something like the state is backing him, even when actually it is not so true. Nobody is really fighting for his/her life. People underestimate the importance of relationships, because they think they do not need it. The good old saying from first world that money should not be involved in relationships/friendships. People do not want to risk their relationships, because they think they do not have to.

It does not look like a disaster, but it is. Everyone is a deep individualist, when problems occur. Society is fragile just like now with some medium-dangerous virus. In the end even the states will fail.

But whatever, reality will be what it will be. I just hate the whinging. I can say thousand stories how some person with authority wiped their butt with myself. But why? It is better to accept the reality that no one will change or avoid it.

And btw the BTC stack in my case was not a luck. It was based on the same philosophy I am just writing here.

[mickyfu]

You seem to do a lot of whinging for someone who hates whinging.

[Sherlock]

Says whinger #1