More than 230 people suffering from gambling addiction sought help in the Republic of Ireland. The last year’s figures from Ireland’s National Drug Treatment Reporting System shows that.
The recently reported figures show that there has been a 7% increase in the addicts that were assessed in 2018. The number was 217.
Ireland’s Health Service Executive said that the recently published data by the National Drug Treatment Reporting System is not likely to be capturing the actual image when it comes to the number of people who gets treatment for gambling problems.
A psychiatry professor in trinity college Dublin, Brendan Kelly, commenting on the figures said that the figures are just a tip of the iceberg and that gambling addiction is way more common than what is being imagined.
Professor Brendan went on to elaborate that measuring the spread of gambling in this country is difficult as there are people who gamble at betting shops, some buy lottery tickets and some gamble online at online casinos and sportsbooks.
This, therefore, makes it difficult to measure and provide actual and accurate data on the people suffering from gambling problems.
Ireland Calls For A Gambling Surveillance Report
Due to the situation at hand, Louise O’Reilly who is the health spokesperson of Irish republican party Sinn Fein asked for a gambling surveillance report. This is to be conducted so that lawmakers and society get to find out a better picture of the current situation relating to gambling addiction in this country.
O’Reilly said that the department of health need to take an accurate picture because the issue is not just around severe gambling addictions but around problem gambling.
According to the statistics from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System, 93% of the people treated for gambling problems were male. This was from 2015 to 2018. Ireland has over time been criticised for lagging behind the UK and other EU members in organizing its gambling market and updating its antique gambling laws.
1956 was the last time the Republic of Ireland amended its gambling rules and regulations. This means that the country’s laws don’t even cover online gambling as it came way after the gambling laws were enforced. The law doesn’t also cover other modern time gambling activities.
Conclusion
The Republic of Ireland has recently announced the number of gambling addicts looking for help in this country. However, there are many loopholes in the gambling laws system of this country which makes it difficult to say the exact number of the affected. Although it is believed that the problem is really bad.
FAQs
[accordiongroup id=”350″][accordion group=”350″ title=”What Is Online Gambling?” active=”true”]Online gambling is any form of gambling that takes place on the internet. This includes playing online casino games, online sports betting and more.[/accordion][accordion group=”350″ title=”When Last Was The Gambling Laws In Ireland Amended?” active=””]The last time the gambling laws in Ireland were amended was in 1956. Which means that there are flaws in the gambling system as the laws don’t apply to modern gambling activities like online gambling.[/accordion][accordion group=”350″ title=”What Did The Drug Treatment Reporting Say?” active=””]The report said that there were more than 230mpeople who are suffering from gambling problem that sought help in Ireland.[/accordion][accordion group=”350″ title=”Who Is Brendan Kelly?” active=””]He is the psychiatry professor in Trinity College Dublin. He also commented on the latest figures releases about Ireland.[/accordion][accordion group=”350″ title=”What Did Brendan Say On The Issue?” active=””]This professor said that the numbers releases are just a little of the exact situation. This is because gambling problems are more common in this country. He also went on to say that measuring gambling problems among residents is difficult. Due to different gambling activities that take place in the country online and offline.[/accordion][/accordiongroup]