Details sought for new gambling regulating agency following Budget announcement

CORK Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould is looking for a detailed breakdown of plans for a gambling regulating authority after this week’s Budget announcement.

In his Budget 2022 speech, the Minister for Public Expenditure, Michael McGrath TD, announced that funding would be allocated in 2022 for the creation of a gambling regulating authority.

The Department of Justice later confirmed that the funding would be half a million euro, bringing to €700,000 the total that is being allocated for the project.

Plans for the authority were unveiled in last year’s budget.

Sinn Féin’s spokesman on addiction, wellbeing and recovery, Mr Gould welcomed the allocation of funds.

But he said that he was concerned about the lack of detail on the setting up of the authority and he says he will be seeking more detailed information on it.

He said: 

“We will be looking for detail about this over the next few days. We want a detailed plan on what its powers will be, and when will it be set up.”

He questioned what was the update on the ongoing Gambling Control Bill, which was due to be set up in the third quarter of this year, while in turn the Gambling Regulation Authority was initially planned to be in place by the end of this year.

The Budget also includes tax credits for digital games — but relief will not be available for digital games produced mainly for the purposes of advertising or gambling.