One-tenth of all children involves in illegal gambling in Ireland

A new study, conducted by the Department of Health, has revealed that 10 per cent of children in Ireland engage with some form of gambling, mainly lottery tickets, scratch cards and horse- or dog-racing.

Scratch cards are the most popular form.

The National Lottery said it had responded to these findings by taking additional steps to ensure players’ ages are verified. These include the appointment of a retail compliance manager, the provision of age control messaging on point-of-sale equipment in retailers and “own audit” verifications.

“All of our retailers are contractually obliged not to sell National Lottery games to under 18s and must commit to our Sales Code of Practice to ask for age verification if in any doubt,” a spokeswoman said.

According to the survey, almost one in ten 15–17 year-olds bought a lottery ticket or scratch card in the last year, and 9.4 per cent placed a bet at a horse or dog racing meeting. Some 15 per cent of boys aged 15-17 years bet on horse or dogs, while 12 per cent bought a lottery ticket or scratch card.

Older people are most likely to gamble, the survey found; almost half of those aged 55-64 years reported gambling on a monthly basis.

However, online or phone gambling was most common among younger people—reported by one in 20 of those aged between 18 and 34 years.

Lottery tickets and scratch cards also accounted for more heavy gambling, with 11 per cent of people reporting spending over €250 a year on this form of gambling.