Meeting hears call to change law on betting

PROBLEM GAMBLING is "the worst of all addictions" but its role in public policy debates has been profoundly abused, a conference on gambling has been told.

The compulsion to gamble can be treated but that still left the problem of the debts run up by gambling addicts, according to Peter Collins, director of the Centre for the Studies of Gambling at the University of Salford. "The liver of an alcoholic recovers a great deal faster than the bank balances of a compulsive gambler".

Mr Collins said a significant number of people in society believed gambling was a vice and it was the role of government to remove its wickedness.

However, they could not argue this publicly because the view held no sway in a liberal society. Instead, they could only say it caused great harm to people.

Prohibitionists had formed an unholy alliance with those interested in maintaining the status quo, particularly those already involved in gambling, he claimed.

Stephen Rowen, an addiction specialist and former director of the Rutland Centre, said it was not unusual for the problem gamblers he had treated to say their debts ran into millions.

Problem gambling was a life-damaging and threatening addiction with the highest suicide rate of any group anywhere.

Licensed amusement arcades were finding it almost impossible to carry out their business because of competition from illegal operators, the Irish Amusement Trades Association told the conference, which was organised by Gambling Compliance.

John Roche, general secretary of IATA, said that in every town in the State, for every licensed arcade there were two to three illegal operators running betting machines in shops, betting offices and taxi firms. Mr Roche said his members had their backs to the wall and were operating in legal "fog".

The law, which dates back to 1956, was "an ass", with totally outdated limits for stakes (3 cent) and payouts (63 cent). IATA wants the maximum stake increased to €2 and payout to €500.

Andrew Tottenham, managing director of Harrahs Europe, one of the world's biggest gambling operators, said Irish politicians needed to show leadership in driving forward the legalisation of casinos.

Former Fine Gael minister and bookmaker Ivan Yates described the failure of politicians to change the laws on gambling as farcical. Politicians were reluctant to address the issues around gambling because there were no votes in it.

"That nettle has such a sting they don't want to grasp it."

Labour TD Pat Rabbitte had labelled fixed odds betting terminals as "the crack cocaine of gambling" for their addictive qualities, but Mr Yates said the figures had been exaggerated.