Tipp FM has heard the link between gambling online and other substance abuse is growing.
This comes as the Gambling Regulation Bill was approved by cabinet yesterday and will see measures like betting ads banned between 5.30am and 9pm, and special offers or VIP credits for users outlawed.
Michael Guerin is an addiction counsellor and says this has been in the pipeline since 2013 and feels it will be ‘somewhat effective’ but won’t do away with the issues around overseas gambling operators.
He says it will be more difficult to control these international groups who don’t always exercise a duty of care.
Michael told Tipp Today he is noticing more women and people with other addictions coming to him for support:
” the population of women who are problem gambling is exponentially on the rise and that there is a very definite uptake in the number of young people who might be taking drugs recreationally or addicted to them and also gambling online. And any of these individuals who present to service with co-morbid disorders like alcohol dependence and Gambling or drugs dependence and gambling will say the gambling was the most difficult one to go.”
