Research by Northern Ireland’s All Party Group on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling suggests there is broad support for the introduction of deposit limits and a complete ban on gambling advertising. Public Call For Regulator, Relaxation Of Northern Ireland Gambling Laws 25th Sep 2020 Written by: Dan Townend.

1. Gambling in Ireland vs Gambling in the UK. Despite its size, Ireland is a formidable gambling market. According to the Irish Bookmakers Association (IBA), several thousand people are currently employed in the betting industry at land-based bookmakers. Plus, there are an estimated 1,000 people employed at online gambling operators.
2. A Gambling Prevalence Survey carried out in 2009 found that the rate of problem gambling in Northern Ireland is three times higher than in the rest of the UK, and conscious of this, the Minister has stated that new law will retain the current ban on casinos and contain a section protecting the young and vulnerable.

Irish casinos and gambling industry should be divided into two according to their geographical locations. It is necessary to understand the geography of Ireland even before we can get into discussion about the different Irish casinos around the country. Ireland consists of two different jurisdictions namely Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Northern Ireland falls under the jurisdiction of Great Britain and the second part is Southern Ireland that is called Ireland or The Republic of Ireland. So Ireland has nothing to do with the jurisdiction of Great Britain.

As we are done with the geography let us now have a look at the Irish gambling laws that each of these jurisdictions follow. When it comes to the Republic of Ireland the law that they follow when it comes to gambling is the 1956 Gaming and Lotteries Act. According to this Act all casino gambling is considered illegal but private clubs are exempted from this act. So this has made national casinos possible while the rest of the international casinos are kept at bay. The perk that these Irish casinos enjoy is exemption from tax. But strict rules have been imposed on players who wish to join the list of registered gamblers as the membership approval is granted by the Gaming and Leisure Association of Ireland.

Players have to be above the age of 21 and should submit documents about their age and address. Serving alcohol is a strict no, no at these casinos.

When you look at the gambling laws for Northern Ireland gambling is legal here but you will hardly find any players club here as they do not enjoy the welcome that they receive in The Republic of Ireland. The legal betting age limit varies here but there is no lower age limit to gamble than 16.

When you add all the casinos that are available in Ireland you will find out that the number of Irish casinos would be more than 14. Some the casinos and clubs that make this list are 78 Club, Club Oasis casino, Silks club, Amusement city, CK’s casino, Adelaide casino and Emerald casino.

The slots that a player can find here are random machines and reflex machines. Random machines are considered as unpredictable by the players whereas reflex machine can give payout as high as 80%. For the players who enjoy playing games in reflex machines you are lucky as these machines can be found in cafes and pubs. Bingo is another popular game among the locals as they play bingo for both fund raising purposes and as a recreational game. If you want to know what all of the fuss is about, then get yourself onto a bingo site now. Most online bingo sites which have any kind of quality about them will offer special bonus games to new players, so that you can give it a go and find out how bingo works. This is an ideal situation because it means that you get to find out whether you enjoy it or not, the bingo site potentially gets a new player, and you might even find yourself with a cash when on your very first visit without having to put down any money of your own whatsoever.

These great bingo games also allow you chance to get better at the games too. Over at bingostrategy.com is a number of tips that will show you just how to play these games with a little bit of strategy too, which will hopefully see you win a little bit of extra cash along the way!

So Irish casinos may not be as successful as the casinos that one may find in other European nations but the progress that this nation is making in this field will certainly result in more casinos in the future

Gambling reform is in the spotlight right across the UK.

The laws in Northern Ireland have varied from Great Britain for some time.

In Great Britain, the Gambling Act 2005 was introduced to bring together disparate historic gambling laws. The Act ushered in a more liberal and permissive approach, but also gave birth to the Gambling Commission.

However, the Gambling Act 2005 did not encompass Northern Ireland and the gambling laws in Northern Ireland remained unchanged. The rules in Northern Ireland have been disconnected from the rest of the UK ever since, and, significantly, the Gambling Commission's remit does not extend to Northern Ireland.

The Department for Communities carried out a consultation on gambling laws between last December 2019 and February 2020. The consultation received around 382 responses, with the majority being from interested individuals, and a quarter being from organisations.

Some of the main headlines are that there appears to be 'strong support' for the creation of an independent gambling regulator (or gambling commission) for Northern Ireland. In fact, around 90% of respondents supported the establishment of such a body.

If you read my recent article about the origins of the Gambling Act and the latest trends in GB, you might be surprised to learn that the majority of respondents in Northern Ireland (around 60%) wanted to see the law being reformed to allow casinos to operate in Northern Ireland, where they are currently illegal.

An even bigger majority (66%) also wanted to see bookmakers and betting shops being allowed to open on a Sunday.

Gambling Laws In Northern Ireland

Almost all respondents (97%) agreed that the industry should contribute to 'funding research, education and treatment' for those with gambling addictions.

The Communities Minister is expected to make an announcement on the detailed findings and proposed 'next steps' in the coming weeks.

Is Gambling Illegal In Northern Ireland Today

It is not clear whether and to what extent these steps will tie in to the reforms to gambling laws which are expected in Great Britain.

Stormont will obviously have an eye to developments in the Republic of Ireland and in Great Britain. With the Brexit transition period coming to an end on 31 December 2020, the UK government might see it as an opportunity to try to harmonise gambling laws across the UK - but that might be overly ambitious if reforms are to be expedited on both sides of the Irish Sea.

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Is Gambling Illegal In Northern Ireland Right Now

Finally, if you're interested in other gambling related posts from the team at Lewis Silkin, you can find more of them here.

'A number of questions have been posed throughout this paper on a range of issues. It will fall to the next administration to make final decisions on gambling reform and promote the necessary legislation.' - Dept for Communities