“They Said It”

“As I say, nobody is going to get everything they want but I will try my very best to make sure we get that balance absolutely right to make sure that horse racing and the betting sector can thrive for many, many years to come.”

Paul Scully, the new U.K. minister in charge of gambling and racing, on the government’s goal of balancing competing interests

GGB: Why don’t you give us a little thumbnail of what gambling in Ireland looked like before the recent regulatory reforms were considered?

JJ Woods: Somewhere around the late ’90s or 2000, the law was circumvented when private members’ clubs started to open all over the country. This was the first time that live gaming was offered, largely blackjack and roulette. Prior to that was a large amount of slot machine arcades. And there’s a bit of a confusion there, because some of them were amusement arcades, which meant in the beginning they had to be almost like children’s games. But as things progressed, they amounted to having actual gaming. This dates back to the 1950s.

This was probably one of the biggest mistakes that hopefully the Irish government will now correct. Because for the last 60 years, we actually broke the first rule of any gaming legislation, which is to protect the young and the vulnerable.

Were these private member clubs similar to the to the private clubs in the U.K.?

Very much so. Some of them are awful. Some of them were actually quite beautiful. The ones I consulted on, they’re very much like gentlemen’s clubs with very good service, beautiful plush carpets, brass fixtures, lighting right over the pictures, that type of oak room style.

And how about the High Street bookmakers?

If we go back to the early 2000s, PaddyPower, which is now Flutter, basically became a monopoly. So they were allowed to proliferate. And it’s very important to remember as well, even though online sports betting dominates today, every single one of those companies in that space had a retail presence on the street.

What spurred the recent regulatory reforms?

Research into regulation started when they actually printed a research paper in July 2013. The truth of the matter is my first submission goes way back to Bertie O’Hearn, when he was the prime minister of this country. He requested that I do a submission on gambling to the government back in 2007.

But I can’t think of any one event that happened where they said, let’s get this done, except to say gambling grew exponentially during Covid, especially online gaming. So I think that’s probably one of the pushes that said we need to do something.

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So what is possible under these new laws in terms of gambling expansion? Can they build an IR or a series of casinos?

The answer is, I’m really not sure. I’d love to be able to tell you but things are still up in the air. There are several issues that have to be worked out. There’s a strong belief still that the permission for a gaming club or casino should lie with local council. We have local councils all over the country. I’m against that myself for many, many reasons. That’s just one area that needs to be looked at.

They also need to know things like, will alcohol be allowed to be served in the casino? That has to be defined. Can you drink and gamble? That’s always been a law in this country. You could never drink and gamble. That’s a law that needs to be changed.

So when you ask me that question, where is the development; where’s the future, where are the improvements coming from? We’re going to need to know a lot more. We need to find out an awful lot more about how the government’s thinking about this.

February 7-9: ICE London, ExCeL, London, U.K. Produced by Clarion Gaming. For more information, visit ICELondon.UK.com.

February 28-March 1: Casino & Esports Conference, Alexis Park Hotel, Las Vegas. Produced by Gameacon Events. For more information, visit casinoesportconf.com.

March 7-8: iGaming Next: New York, The Convene-Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Produced by iGaming Next. For more information, visit iGamingNext.com.

March 15-16: IGSA 2023 Technology Summit, Italian American Club of Las Vegas. Produced by the International Gaming Standards Association. For more information, visit IGSA.org/en/igsatechnology-summit-focus-sports-betting.

March 27-30: Indian Gaming 2023, San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California. Produced by the Indian Gaming Association. For more information, visit IndianGamingTradeshow.com.

March 29-30: Prague Gaming & Tech Summit ’23, Vienna House Andel’s Prague, Prague, Czech Republic. Produced by Hipther. For more information, visit Hipther.com.

April 19-20: SAGSE LATAM 2023, Buenos Aires Hilton, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Produced by Mongraphie. For more information, visit SAGSELATAM.com.

May 9-11: SBC Summit North America, Meadowlands Exposition Center, East Rutherford, New Jersey. Produced by SBC. For more information, visit SBCEvents.com.

May 15-17: Casino Marketing Boot Camp, General Managers Edition, Rolling Hills Casino Resort, Corning, California. Produced by J Carcamo & Associates. For more information, visit CasinoMarketingBootCamp.com.

May 24-25: CasinoBeats Summit (CBS), InterContinental in St. Julian’s, Malta. Produced by SBC. For more information, visit SBCEvents.com.

May 25-27: Gambling Brasil, Frei Caneca Convention Center, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Produced by Afiliados Brasil. For more information, visit GamblingBrasil.com.