\u201cSo, if somebody opens an account to have a bet on the next General Election, on Manchester United to win the League or whatever they want to bet on, within 24 hours they are offered free spins on the online casino and online slots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is like sucking people from the least addictive product to the most addictive product.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BXCA9D.jpg\")
An online gambling website. Picture by: Alamy.com.<\/p>\n
Mr Kenny added that his fears about online gambling are one reason why he resigned from the board of Paddy Power.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, he has gone public with his concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI could either shut up or speak up,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided to speak up on this issue\u2026 There should be much higher rates of tax for the online casino than people having a flutter on the horses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no interest in seeing taxes on horse racing or people wanting a flutter on the football having to pay more tax.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what I would like to see is to disincentivise the bookmakers from sucking people in like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Addiction<\/p>\n
Mr Kenny said many people underestimate just how addictive online gambling is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have seen and I should have done more [on the issue of] the dangers of online casinos,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnline betting is much more addictive than the betting shop\u2026 The British Health Survey found that online slot machines were just as addictive as cocaine.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents will not want their 18 year old experimenting with something like cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to Newstalk, Paddy Power owners, Flutter Entertainment, said they have a “huge amount of respect for Stewart” and his role in the company over many decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, they added that they disagree with him on his belief that the industry should be subjected to higher taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cA tax rise will risk jobs, investment and trigger a jackpot for black market operators revelling in the harm he is worried about,” a spokesperson argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe regulated industry is completely different to when Stewart was here, we are serious about safer gambling and believe we lead the industry in player protection. Stewart himself has gone on record to praise Flutter\u2019s efforts in this area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re glad he wants to see the industry flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone who thinks they might have a problem with gambling can call GamblingCare.ie on 1800 936 725 for support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Main image: Online gambling. Picture by: Maddie Red Photography \/ Alamy.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former CEO of Paddy Power has said higher taxes are needed for online gambling, whose addictive qualities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-253322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}