A 'De-Facto ban' on betting firms' shop fronts and advertisements near schools, playgrounds and sports facilities used by children was removed from new legislation.
The Gambling Regulation Bill will introduce curbs on advertising, including a ban between 5.30am and 9pm, in a move Fianna Fáil minister James Browne said aimed to ensure that "children are protected".
But there was intense lobbying to remove more extensive measures, with several submissions sent to the Oireachtas Justice Committee by gambling giants.
Now a TD and member of the Justice Committee has said he was "disappointed" the section on shop fronts was removed from the legislation. Deputy Patrick Costello said: "The Bill seeks to ban advertising for very good reasons. [Betting] shop fronts should not become de-facto billboards... It's disappointing it has been removed from the Bill. If it was overly harsh it could have been amended, but to remove it completely is an amendment too far.
"Some element of plain packaging for betting shops is essential if we're looking to regulate gambling advertising."
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The initial heads of the gambling Bill stated that a condition of licensing would be for operators "not to advertise, display their name or any promotional signage that is visible to a school, a playground, a sports training ground, playing field or fields, or a sports venue or venues, that may be accessible or used by children". However, this requirement has been removed from the final Bill that was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice confirmed that the text would not be in the Bill when it is published next week. Instead the new Gambling Regulator Authority will be able to prescribe "the places and locations where gambling advertising can be displayed or published". The spokesman said that this would be "a more wide-ranging and effective power".
The existing Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) Code already stipulates that marketing communications featuring gambling should not appear within 100 metres of a school entrance. The industry argued that this is sufficient.
In its submission in January to the Oireachtas Justice Committee, Entain, a multinational umbrella company that includes gambling firm Ladbrokes, wrote: "It is difficult to see why the mere presence of betting shops near schools - as opposed to advertising or marketing which is already prohibited within 100 metres of a school - is uniquely harmful compared to pubs, fast-food restaurants or off-licences."
It added it is not "always practical in smaller urban centres and towns to find premises which are not within sight of a school" and that the ban would have "nil effect on problem gambling".
Entain insisted the existing rules were adequate, adding: "This specific reference to schools should be removed and the general area should be considered as a whole, while retaining the current ban on marketing and advertising within 100 metres of a school."
In a separate submission, Flutter Entertainment Group, which incorporates Paddy Power and Betfair, warned the move to clamp down on bookmakers' branding would lead to a "de-facto ban on outdoor advertising" for betting shops, which they said could threaten their viability. "It has even been suggested that retail betting shops would have to remove any branding from their shop fronts, which causes obvious challenges for the 800 betting shops that serve their communities across Ireland," the group wrote.
Separate submissions were made by the Irish Bookmakers Association, which represents around 750 of the 800 retail bookmakers nationwide. The IBA said there is "no evidence to support the need for such a condition or the benefit of such a condition either in Ireland or globally that we are aware of".
The Oireachtas Justice Committee's report on pre-legislative scrutiny of its Bill found that "children are currently immersed in a culture where gambling has extensively proliferated and is normalised", adding that "urgent measures have to be introduced".
It recommended banning gambling ads before the 9pm watershed and "that the potential to decouple sports advertising and gambling advertising be evaluated, particularly in terms of sports advertisements aimed at young people".
The IBA welcomed the announcement of the legislation this week but said it was holding off on commenting further until the full Bill is published. The legislation, which is the first modernisation of gambling law in more 70 years, will give strong enforcement powers to the new Gambling Regulatory Authority when enacted next year.
