A new campaign aimed at raising awareness of the problems of gambling with players of team sports, particularly in the GAA, has been launched.
Extern Problem Gambling is a registered charity with a mission to “prevent and minimise gambling-related harm in Ireland.”
Figures released by them show that three-quarters of the Irish population know someone who has a gambling problem and that there are in the region of 30,000 people afflicted on the island.
Oisin McConville is fronting the campaign. He himself admitted to a major problem which only righted itself when he sought halp at the age of 30. He suggested in media calls yesterday that the problem had increased significantly over the period of lockdown.
He also referenced that playing competitive team sport made you three times more likely to be a gambler.
The GAA came out strongly against betting and gambling in recent years and now bans any form of sponsorship by a betting company.
The gambling awareness campaign ‘Reduce the Odds’ was launched in 2018, and the Healthy Clubs Project has also been to the fore in helping GAA members with gambling addiction.
The FAI also rejected the possibility of taking betting sponsorship, though it is still a central part of the commercial landscape around horse and greyhound racing here, and in football in the Premier League and English Football League.
Paddy Power and Boylesports are two Irish companies that have significant sponsorship interests. Both have been closely aligned to industry moves towards highlighting the tools that are available to prevent problem gambling but critics argue this self-regulation is not enough.
A major review of legislation relating to gambling is coming down the tracks in Britain, though ironically it is opening up at an ever-faster rate in the United States.
It cannot go unnoticed that the campaign is launching during the week of the Punchestown Racing Festival where betting is more front and centre than it normally is, with massive media coverage across TV, Radio, Online and print, and where temptation is closer than ever before through ease of access to betting sites via smartphones.
The GAA, Paddy Power and Boylesports are among more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.
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