The amount of money known to be spent on gambling in Ireland has more than doubled over the past five years - rising from €1.6 billion in 2001 to over €3.6 billion in 2006, a conference in Dublin heard yesterday.
But Prof Patrick Wall, professor of public health at University College Dublin, who presented the figures, said they were only the "tip of the iceberg" as they did not include gambling via the internet or gambling in casinos.
He told the Summer Scientific Meeting of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland that for many people having a bet, whether on horses, football or cards can be a bit of fun but it was not great fun for everybody. For a subset of the population it could damage their health.
International studies had estimated, he said, that in countries similar to Ireland, 1 per cent of the population have a gambling problem of clinical significance, meaning it impacts on their mental health by way of anxiety, stress, depression and possibly suicide.
"We do not know the prevalence in Ireland. Were it of a similar order of magnitude, this would imply that approximately 40,000 individuals experience gambling problems of clinical significance in a given year. However, given the higher relative gambling expenditures in Ireland, this is likely to be an underestimate," he said.
Prof Wall said there was a strong need for baseline research on the nature and extent of gambling problems in Ireland. He said people here could now bet 24 hours a day and with credit cards on anything from dogs to elections to "how much money Bertie had under the bed".
Its effects, he said, were more likely to be experienced in households where the main income earner is in manual, unskilled or semi-skilled employment.
Indications one had a problem included things such as betting more than one could afford, lying about it, and putting on bigger bets to get the same buzz.
He added that the Irish system is relatively unregulated compared to most European countries and gambling is encouraged by government policy in a number of ways.
"One prominent example is strong State support for horse and greyhound racing, and another would be the government-backed National Lottery. Furthermore, betting is not liable to VAT and betting taxes have gradually been reduced to a minimum over the last number of years," he said.
But problem gambling has been given serious attention in other jurisdictions, he said. The extent of gambling-related problems in the US led the Clinton administration to establish the National Gambling Impact Study Commission which reported on several aspects of US gambling.
Similarly, the UK has conducted a number of high-level studies into the nature and extent of problem gambling, including the British Gambling Prevalence Study commissioned by the Gambling Commission.
"Are we going to actually start dealing with this problem in 10 years' time when it's massive or should we have something like the Gambling Commission that they have in the UK?" he asked.
Prof Wall said there was a clear need for government policy to be clarified with respect to the promotion of gambling. Another issue which needed clarification was the extent to which the objectives of promoting development of the betting industry and public health are being considered, he added.