IRELAND MARKET FOCUS
A New Dawn for Irish Gambling Law Reform & Regulation A LONG-AWAITED BILL TO REFORM GAMBLING LAWS IN IRELAND IS MAKING ITS WAY THROUGH PARLIAMENT. IT LOOKS LIKE IT WILL PAVE THE WAY FOR SIGNIFICANT AND POSITIVE CHANGES IN THE INDUSTRY SAYS JOE KELLY
Overview 2023 will be a pivotal year for the reform of Irish gambling legislation, following the publication of the Gambling Regulation Bill (the Bill) on 2 December 2022, which has already started its journey through the Irish parliament (known as the ‘Oireachtas’). On 6 December 2022, the Bill passed the second stage of this legislative process, with the general principles underpinning the legislation being debated. It will now go onto the third stage or ‘Committee Stage’ where it will be examined section by section and some amendments are likely to be made. In parallel with the legislative process, the establishment of a new regulatory agency – the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (the GRAI) – is already in train. As tangible evidence of the Government’s commitment to legal reform of the sector, Ms Anne Marie Caulfield was appointed CEO- designate of the GRAI on 8 September 2022. Ms Caulfield is said to be working closely with the Minister of State for Law Reform at the Department of Justice, James Browne TD and
his department in actively recruiting staff for the GRAI and in developing procedures for how the authority will function once it is operational. The Minister has commented that: “Ms Caulfield’s ongoing preparatory work, in parallel with the passage of the [Bill], will ensure the authority will be ready to hit the ground running once it is formally established”. With significant momentum behind these reforms, regulatory change is now reasonably imminent – with the potential for the legislation to be enacted and the GRAI to become operational this year. In this briefing, we examine what’s coming down the tracks for operators established in, or providing services to, the Irish market including licensing, advertising, promotions and player safety, as well as the establishment of a robust new regulator in the form of the GRAI. Legislative objectives underpinning the Bill The primary objective of this long-awaited piece of legislation is to put in place the framework for a strong regulatory and
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IMGL MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2023
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