Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad
Dail Éireann — 2024-10-16
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

It is not just that. It is like, "Win tonight's life-changing prize of €250,000 or a brand-new four-bedroom house". The problem is, as I said, when we look at the intention. Any company will do this, offering Oasis tickets or something else of value. It is not gambling; it is entering a competition. It is free, there is no price to enter it and therefore it does not fall under this legislation. If they use their brand and the brand is not the same as the licensee, they are able to do this. They are able to actually put money behind this on social media. They are able to get your telephone number and get you to tick the box and then under that section they are able to text you as much as they want. It is a major problem in the legislation because that is what is going to happen with this.
Mobile phone text messaging is the way they are going to do it because you cannot do it on Facebook under the legislation here. You cannot advertise gaming activity to specific individuals because of the conditions here, and the fact that they have to have an account. There is no way you can target people on Facebook like that but you can when you have their mobile phone numbers.
Again, I appeal to the Minister of State at this very late stage. There is a very simple fix to this to prevent what will be a tsunami of this type of activity, and that is to include in the definition of "relevant content" not just the name of the licensee but also the trademark, trading name, logo or partial name of the licensee. I say that strongly and in good faith. I know the difficulty in terms of the late stage of this legislation but I am telling the Minister of State the consequences of that as well.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-10-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:22+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-10-16