THE REPUBLIC should cash in on the US ban on online gaming by creating the framework for the development of the €22 billion a year sector, according to a Government report.
The recently published report of the casino committee, Regulating Gaming in Ireland, states that current international regulation of online gaming, particularly the US ban on the activity, presents "a window of opportunity for Ireland".
"Should this opportunity be grasped within the appropriate timescale, Ireland, as a gaming-friendly centre of excellence, can reasonably expect to attract a reasonable portion of this dynamic industry, therefore yielding significant synergistic benefits as well as employment opportunities," the report says.
Figures in the report show the total value of this market around the world is €22 billion a year in revenues, with around 3.5 million gamblers in Europe accounting for €4.55 billion of the total.
The report stresses that any development in remote gaming must be strictly regulated to "protect the vulnerable, prevent criminals from entering the market and to ensure that being licensed in Ireland is a trustworthy seal of approval for e-gambling customers throughout the world".
Former minister for justice Michael McDowell established the committee to look at regulating casinos, betting and online gambling in the Republic, where the laws governing these activities are outdated.
The body recommends licensing and regulating casinos and gaming. In the section of its report dealing with the online business, it states that "work should commence on the development of a separate regulatory framework for remote gaming, under the same regulatory authority as terrestrial gaming".
It adds that while objectives of regulating online and "terrestrial" gaming remain the same, the means of achieving them differ considerably. The clampdown on online gambling in the US, which saw the executives of some of these businesses arrested, has driven a number of operations from the Americas.
Last year, pioneering gaming software developer Cryptologic moved its headquarters to Dublin. Another business, Fulltiltpoker, has also established a base here.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern wants to put the full report before an informal Oireachtas all-party committee before taking any further action. As both Houses of the Oireachtas are adjourned until the autumn, that committee is unlikely to begin work on the report before then.
