SDLP Communities Spokesperson Mark H Durkan has questioned the lack of ambition in a bill aiming to reform the North’s gambling laws.
He was speaking as Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey’s Betting, Gambling, Lotteries and Amusements Bill was debated in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Mr Durkan questioned why the Minister had not included many of the more ambitious initiatives in her party’s ’26 County Gambling Strategy’.
Said the Foyle MLA: “While there’s no doubt the North’s gambling industry is badly in need of reform, this bill is unambitious and fails to tackle many of the problems affecting people with gambling issues in our modern society.
“The North has not updated its gambling legislation since 1985 and it’s important that any new legislation is robust, fit for purpose and aims to protect the 40,000 problem gamblers here.
“Last year Sinn Féin published a ’26 County Gambling Strategy’ that contains a number of initiatives that are not included in this bill.
“It calls for a gambling regulator, age verification for online gambling, self-exclusion regulation, the end of offers to entice young people to gamble and regulation on advertising.
“Why are they more ambitious for people in Dublin than in Derry?
“Why does Deirdre Hargey believe that people in the South deserve more ambition than those in the North?
“While many people can gamble recreationally for others it can destroy their lives. People have lost their homes, their businesses and relationships have been ruined.
“Everyone knows someone who has lost everything because of an inability to control a gambling problem.
“And we must use every power available to us to ensure this legislation is robust and actually tackles the societal issues at the heart of this bill.”
