Researchers have called for a ban on \u20ac1 and \u20ac2 scratchcards as part of a package of measures aimed at reducing gambling-related harm among adults and children in Ireland.<\/p>\n
The proposals are outlined in a paper published in the Irish Journal of Medical Science by academics from the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Limerick and University College Cork.<\/p>\n
The researchers argue that many of the measures used successfully in tobacco and alcohol control should also be applied to gambling, including National Lottery products.<\/p>\n
Among the recommendations are tighter restrictions on gambling advertising and point-of-sale marketing, mandatory health warnings on scratchcards and betting slips, plain packaging for scratchcards, stronger enforcement of gambling laws, higher gambling taxes, a retailer licence fee for National Lottery sales and raising the minimum gambling age from 18 to 21.<\/p>\n
Lead author Dr Frank Houghton, Principal Investigator of the Tobacco, Alcohol and Gambling Research Group at TUS, said low-cost scratchcards were too easily accessible to children.<\/p>\n
“If we learn from the achievements of tobacco control we can help protect both children and adults from becoming problem gamblers,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Cheap scratchcards are simply too easy for children to access. The gambling, tobacco and alcohol industries are all essentially addiction industries, and we should never forget that.”<\/p>\n
Prof Anne Campbell, emeritus professor of social work at Queen’s University Belfast and a co-author of the paper, said scratchcards should be kept out of sight of children in the same way as tobacco products.<\/p>\n
“It’s time the scratchcards were put out of sight of children, just like tobacco,” she said.<\/p>\n
“All betting slips and scratchcards should also include clear warnings on the threats posed by gambling.”<\/p>\n
The researchers point to evidence suggesting underage access to lottery products remains an issue.<\/p>\n
Test-purchasing research commissioned by the Office of the Regulator of the National Lottery found that almost 30% of retailers were willing to sell a lottery product to a child.<\/p>\n
They also cite a recent Economic and Social Research Institute report which estimated that around 130,000 people in Ireland are problem gamblers, while a further 279,000 show moderate signs of problem gambling.<\/p>\n
According to the paper, international evidence indicates that people who gamble before reaching the legal age are significantly more likely to experience gambling problems later in life.<\/p>\n
The authors say a public health approach similar to those adopted in tobacco and alcohol control could help reduce gambling-related harm and better protect vulnerable groups, particularly children and young people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers have called for a ban on \u20ac1 and \u20ac2 scratchcards as part of a package of measures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,410,411],"class_list":["post-672798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}