Casino News: 13,000 New Irish Casino Jobs by 2020

The Irish Government is to begin regulating and licensing casino clubs in a first step towards overhauling current gambling legislation.

Legislation to control casino gaming in private members’ clubs is to be included in a new anti-money laundering Bill to be published shortly.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has decided to press ahead with liberalisation of gambling laws despite the absence of cross-party agreement on the issue.

Mr Ahern, now plans a two-step approach, first by setting up a casino gaming control section in his department to register and control the operation of casinos on an interim basis.

This section will then draw up legislation for a revised gambling code.

Despite the fact that casinos are illegal in the Republic, up to 50 private members’ clubs are in existence offering casino-type games.

Irish Casinos will be subject to strict oversight by the departmental unit and will have to comply with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing legislation.

Large-scale casino developments will not be permitted, according to the Minister.

Mr Ahern says the longer-term aim is to put in place “a modern, responsive code that recognises the fact that some people gamble and enjoy gambling”.

A Government report published last year recommended licensing and regulating casinos, while existing casino operators themselves have also been seeking such measures.

An industry-sponsored report recently claimed that casino regulation could generate up to €280 million for the economy and create 13,000 new casino jobs by 2020.

Most of the casino jobs would be in the area of information technology and software development.

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