A
Submission
on Gaming and Gambling Legislation to the Irish
Government By
JJ Woods (Commercial Director, Atlantic Casino
Consultants).
1.
Introduction
The
Gaming and Gambling industry in Ireland has grown
significantly in recent years. In the past
efforts were made to establish a large casino in the
Phoenix Park area of Dublin, however, these efforts
were not successful. Since then the Irish
economy has grown and is set to double its size in
the next 15 years. Standards of living have
increased and the gaming and gambling sector has
been boosted by the fact that the average person now
has more disposable income. The growth of
private casinos and the influence of the internet
are rapidly changing the picture of gambling in
Ireland, The laws governing the sector are widely
accepted to be out-dated and in need of reform.
The Government have signaled their intention to
bring in the necessary reforms and it is with this
in mind that I make the following submission.
2.
Size of the market
Irish
people gamble approximately Euro 70 million per
week with that figure set to rise to Euro 100
million within the next two years. Online
gambling is now estimated to be growing at a rate of
70% per year. This would mean that by 2007 the
annual spending on gambling in the Irish economy
could stand at around Euro 5.2 billion; or near to
5% of GNP. As many online gambling outlets
currently channel much of their business through
offshore companies who do not have to levy Irish
betting tax, the figures quoted could be even
higher. Considering the growth of internet
gambling, and the popularity of games like Roulette
and Poker in recent years, the public perception of
casino type gambling is changing. However
there are is no contemporary research to show what
the views of the general public are on the matter
and to date there has been no concerted effort made
to convince the public that a casino can have a
positive rather than a negative effect. It is
clear that proper regulation of the market could
lead to significant benefits for the industry, the
exchequer and the general public.
On-course
betting through Tote Ireland stands at about Euro 47
million, and the National Lottery enjoys a gaming
revenue of Euro 578 million.
On
a per-capita basis these figures indicate that the
Irish market is similar to that of the UK.
A
significant number of non-nationals are active
punters.
3.
The experience of other countries
The
following countries for example Russia, South
America, North Africa, and the Caribbean experienced
great difficulties in my opinion when Casinos where
originally set up there and this was due to a lack
of understanding of how to promote the business and
secondly how to protect the business. These two
basic factors stemmed from the lack of interest each
respective government had in the Casino Industry.
My
point being that when the 1968 Gaming Act was passed
in the U.K. a Gaming Board was also formed within
the government to oversee and administrate over the
industry. It was decided by this board that any
member of staff that worked for the Casino in a
gaming zone would be licensed by the government,
Gaming zone refers to Dealers, Inspectors, Pit
Bosses, managers etc, It would not include reception
staff , waitresses, cleaners etc. This single act of
issuing Gaming Staff with a Government License did a
lot for the integrity of the business and the
protection of the business as you could not have a
license if for example you had any previous criminal
convictions.
4.
Key Recommendations of Inter-Departmental Group on
Gaming and Gambling
An
inter-Departmental group was formed to undertake a
review of the Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956 to 1986
and this group made its report to the Government in
2000. The key recommendations which they made
included the following:
-
Existing
Acts are no longer appropriate to current needs
and have been overtaken both by technology and
society. There is a need for a modern
regulatory structure which will also provide the
public with the required safeguards.
-
Irish
society has conflicting images of gambling.
For instance, while horse racing and the
National Lottery are seen as acceptable,
gambling in the form of casinos suffers from a
more negative perception.
-
Internationally,
gambling has grown over the last twenty years.
Internet gambling has significantly increased in
Ireland in recent years.
-
There
is a need for a more balanced approach than the
original 1956 Act which is very restrictive.
-
While
amendments to the current legislation may be a
helpful interim measure, there is a clear need
for completely new legislation in this area.
-
A
Gaming and Lotteries Authority should be set up.
-
There
is a need for much greater consultation with all
affected parties.
-
Local
Authorities should still retain their control in
relation to Gaming and Gambling venues, albeit
with some changes.
-
Premises
should continue to require a licence for their
activities.
-
Definitions
of gaming machines should be updated to remove
the scope for circumvention of the law.
-
An
increase in the stake and price limits for
machines to 50c and Euro 20 respectively.
-
The
ban on casino-type gambling should be retained
based upon a Government decision in 1996.
When
the report was published the Government undertook to
bring forward the necessary regulatory framework.
The Group received a number of submissions both for
and against casino developments in Ireland.
However, as no specific reference was made to
casinos in the Groups terms of reference, they took
a largely neutral view saying that arguments could
be made on both sides but that in light of the
Governments decision in 1996 not to allow casinos,
they were not in a position to make any
recommendation in this area other than to reaffirm
the prohibition contained in the 1956 Act.
To
sum up the above points my view is as follows,
If
we accept that the current gaming laws are in need
of a revamp we need to clarify and distinguish
between an Arcade and a Casino. An Arcade in usually
defined as a Beach Front holiday amusement centre
where all the family can be entertained, the reality
is quite the reverse here in Ireland where high
stakes are played on Slot Machines and often Family
Holidays are destroyed, these premise are usually
very inviting (no membership required) and Hard
Gambling is available. These premises are availing
of Casino type gambling under the guise of Family
entertainment.
For
a business like a Slot Arcade to conform to proper
Legislation then the Arcade would have to define
itself simply as Family Business or Adult Business,
Arcade or Casino .A family business Arcade would
have very small stake Slot Machines so they are
deemed Fun/Amusement and this would need to be
strictly enforced
A
Casino has an entry age unlike an Arcade and in my
opinion should be set at a minimum 21years.You
cannot easily access a Casino as you have a
membership procedure in force.
There
should be High Stake Slot Machines in a Casino. The
question of how many Slot machines a premises should
be allowed should be determined by the amount of
table games. For example for every Roulette table 3
slot machines allowed, for every blackjack table 3
slot machines allowed, to sum up, a Casino with ten
Table games would be allowed 30 slot machines. This
suggestion which has been used successfully in other
countries keeps the business defined as a Casino for
taxation etc and does not allow it to crossover to a
24 hour Slot Machine House. It also protects the
young and the vulnerable as access is restricted.
Growth
of Private Casinos
Ireland
has seen significant growth in recent years in the
area of private casinos. These small casinos
are able to operate in a grey area under the current
legislation. Members are presumed to be
betting between themselves and while there is
nothing in the law to say this is legal there is
nothing to say that it is illegal either.
It
is relatively easy to obtain access to these clubs
and the public are often admitted as guests or else
signed up as members on-the-spot when they arrive at
the club. It is clear that in the long term
Ireland cannot afford to allow this type of casino
to continue to grow without any form of regulation,
as eventually they will present opportunities for
criminal involvement and money laundering. The
majority of those involved in the industry do not
want this and would therefore welcome sensible
regulation of the market.
5.
Content of New Legislation
New
legislation should focus on a number of key
priorities. I believe that these priorities
can be summarised as follows.
1/
Ownership of Casinos. Directors/
Shareholders etc should be free from any previous
Criminal Convictions.
2/
All gaming staff issued a License from the
government , (could be done in conjunction with the
Gardai)
3/
Taxation, it can be quite complex to accurately
tax a casinos revenue, but over the last 15-20 years
significant progress has been made and there are
various options that need to be discussed. Taxation
could be affected in a major way regarding whether
an Irish Gaming Board is formed or not. For example
a government official is present at the close of
business every day to determine the Casinos result
in countries like Spain.
4/
Casinos should be crime free (both in terms of
those who operate it and players it attracts),
conducted in accordance with regulations and honest
fair play.
5/
Money Laundering can be addressed in exactly the
same fashion as Banks and Building Societies have to
adhere to, again I will refer to Licensed staff as
in most cases of any license that is issued it can
also be revoked and it is in the interest of a
Licensed member of staff to carry out his duties
with due care and responsibility. On that note
the final responsibility lies with the Management of
that Casino so we are now in an area of regulation
that is Policing itself which should be the mood set
for any responsible casino club.
6/
Games Permitted, There is a wide selection of
games separate to slot machines available in the
market today and these should be studied carefully
as some of these games do not give the customer fair
play. In some countries a Casino Operator can put
virtually any type of game he wants on to the casino
floor, this should not be the case here in Ireland.
Of course the basic games like Blackjack and
Roulette which are played all over the world all
have edges in favour of the house but these edges
are considered fair internationally and are 0.47% on
Blackjack and 2.25% on Roulette and if these edges
did not exist a Casino would not be viable
commercial proposition .On that note the stakes that
are permitted to be played needs to be discussed.
7/
Where should Casinos be located.? This is a
complex question which needs to be thoroughly
discussed, the following need to be highlighted,
Population of the town , city, where it is intended,
miles radius of another casino, proper deliberations
between the issuer of the license and the Town
planners and size of the proposed Casino .
8/
Should Casinos serve Alcohol .This is a
sensitive area and needs to be investigated fully. I
would add that you can place restrictions on the
serving of alcohol on the basis that if the Casino
closed at 6am you would stop serving alcohol for
example at 2am which means the Casino is not using
alcohol as a form of attraction for people to visit
the club.
9/
Protect the vulnerable. This can be done by
having a strict age policy and I would recommend a
minium of 21 years of age, also by recording the
amount of visits a customer has to the Casino in any
given Month, but ultimately it is the
Professionalism of the management which will ensure
that customers are protected which refers once again
to the issuing of individual gaming licenses.
6.
My Experience
7.
I myself have been in the Casino Industry for over
25 years and have worked and been involved in
opening Casinos in many Countries, I am Irish and my
family live here in Dublin. There are many issues
involved in the proposed legislation and to be
honest I am sure that their are several points
that I have not mentioned but I do have the
experience of an Industry that I am very passionate
about. I feel strongly for proper legislation and
regulation. I still have my British Gaming Board
License and I do believe that is the way to attract
fit and proper people to work in the Casino business
by forming our own Gaming Board, also these are some
up to date facts about the industry in the U.K.
8.
There are 139 land based Casinos in the u.k
9.
They employ 16,315 members of staff.
10.
This consists of 9,363 Licensed Gaming Staff and
6,952 non-gaming staff, eg waitresses, reception,
security etc.
11.
The casinos generate millions in revenue for the
government yearly.
12.
Implications of EU study on Gambling
Until
now most EU states have considered gambling to be a
special industry subject to special attention
because of the social problems that can accompany
it. However, the restrictions that Member
States have imposed have created problems for the
Internal Market. The EU have commissioned a
study to evaluate how the differing national rules
have an influence on the smooth functioning of the
internal market for gambling and associated
services. This study will have a considerable
impact because on the basis of the study's findings,
the Commission will decide whether action is needed
at a European level.
The
study will analyse all the current national rules in
the 25 Member States and provide a comparative
description of the current structure and size of the
European gambling industry. It will
investigate the effectiveness of the national
restrictions in meeting public interest objectives
and will take into account the views of all
stakeholders.
Publication
of the study is expected soon and if it proves
necessary for the EU Commission to propose
legislation in this area it will have major
implications for the gaming and gambling sector in
Ireland. Indeed any review of the Irish laws
will be heavily influenced by the findings of the
study and the likelihood of legislation being
imposed at EU level.
13.
Conclusions
More
and more Irish people are gambling than was the case
in the early 1990s when casinos were not favored.
The Irish punters views have changed dramatically
over this period with many people actively
participating in gambling either on-line or in
casinos. I mentioned throughout this submission
about the need to license the individual casino
staff and to sum this up, like any license that is
issued it comes with a set of rules and if it is
deemed that the rules have not been adhered to then
that license is revoked. On a final note if we are
to have Legislation we must get fully behind it to
establish a confidence and an integrity within
the industry so that staff are proud to work there
and not frowned upon by family and friends also like
any other international business we will be
competing on the world stage for tourism, Casinos
have strong links with Golf and Horse Racing all
over the world through sponsorship etc and we must
maintain these relationships here in Ireland.
It
is my firm belief that with regulation the market
can grow in a socially responsible fashion. I
would be happy to discuss these proposals with you
at greater length and you can contact me using the
details below
JJ
Woods
Phone
& Fax - 01 853 1952
Mob
- 086 351 2555
Email
info@atlanticcasinoconsultants.com
