It’s the “bookie in your pocket” or the “casino in your hand” – the opportunity to gamble that follows us everywhere our mobile devices do from bed to desk to toilet, never closing its doors.
The unfettered growth in popularity of online gambling over the past decade has brought with it a deepening concern that problem gambling has become a largely invisible health crisis, marked by secrecy and stigma.
The State is now at an turning point on gambling. Last autumn the first comprehensive Irish legislation since 1956 passed into law after 17 years of stop-start government debate and much industry lobbying.
Last month the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), the sector’s first dedicated watchdog, was established.
