Study reveals Irish gambling companies do not check gamblers’ age

In a shocking revelation, a new study has found that a majority of gambling operators who offer their services exclusively for Irish citizens do not have the proper mechanisms to check gamblers’ age at the time of registration.

In other words, these gambling companies allow children and minors to gamble.

Colin O’Gara, head of addiction services at Saint John of God Hospital in Dublin, led the team that conducted the first of its kind study in Ireland. The results have been published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.

The study also found that most gambling companies do not place any consumer protection features on their websites. Both local and international display a glaring lack of procedural rigorousness for proper age verification process when opening a new gambling account.

The study reviewed the 39 most popular gambling websites in Ireland. Its results showed that 37 of those sites did not require any proof of identity from customers to open an account with them and gamble. Professor O’Gara pointed out that practically everyone could thus register with a gambling website in Ireland, including children.

The study also reviewed what responsible gambling tools were in place and found that of all 17 Irish and 22 non-Irish websites surveyed, the Irish ones featured poorer protections for vulnerable customers.