Lots of Irish people love to have a little flutter on the horses or whatever and, of course, there is no harm in that.
However, it does appear that gambling addiction is now a major issue in this country and many of the newcomers are teenagers.
There has been a notable increase in people presenting for help at addiction treatment centres and doctors say the accessibility of gambling is now a major issue. The ramifications have led to a shift in the demographic of the typical person attending for treatment.
More teenagers are now in difficulty with gambling. Smartphones enable people to gamble 24 hours a day and it is being done by people at work and in other situations that were not previously conducive to betting.
Health professionals believe it will be a number of years before the full impact of the explosion of online gambling is realised.
It has also emerged that more women than ever are gambling and it’s not just on horse racing as many are more attracted to wagering on who will win television competitions like The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing.
One doctor also pointed out that, at present, only one soccer club in England was supported by an alcohol company but many clubs were sponsored by bookmaking organisations.
