Gambling & the GAA

[Vladimir The Bear]

I played adult club hurling from the late 1990s up to just before Covid.
Towards the end of my career in the 2010s it became clear to me that numerous young guys in the dressing room had some form of addiction to gambling on their smartphones.
It was sad to see young guys running into the dressing room after training to check the scores in division 3 Finnish soccer games or betting on throw ins in LOI games etc

It's a well known issue amongst young men in the country and to be fair the GAA do seem to have made some steps to try curb betting companies access to certain markets like the minor championship etc. There is a good ad on TV as well with Richie Power, Con Kilpatrick and Oisin Mconville for Gambling Aware.

However when watching Allianz league Sunday on the RTE player earlier, I couldn't help notice that adverts for Novibet.ie were very prominent. Add that to the Paddy Power stunt of paying out on Cork early last year to win the championship and the media coverage that marketing ploy got and I just wonder should the GAA be doing more to monitor and maybe prevent gambling companies from having so much access to our games. Or is it just a government issue.

Thoughts?

 

[Hallbopping]

I played adult club hurling from the late 1990s up to just before Covid.
Towards the end of my career in the 2010s it became clear to me that numerous young guys in the dressing room had some form of addiction to gambling on their smartphones.
It was sad to see young guys running into the dressing room after training to check the scores in division 3 Finnish soccer games or betting on throw ins in LOI games etc

It's a well known issue amongst young men in the country and to be fair the GAA do seem to have made some steps to try curb betting companies access to certain markets like the minor championship etc. There is a good ad on TV as well with Richie Power, Con Kilpatrick and Oisin Mconville for Gambling Aware. However when watching Allianz league Sunday on the RTE player earlier, I couldn't help notice that adverts for Novibet.ie were very prominent on the players. Add that to the Paddy Power stunt of paying out on Cork early last year to win the championship and the media coverage that marketing ploy got and I just wonder should the GAA be doing more to monitor and maybe prevent gambling companies from having so much access to our games. Or is it just a government issue.

Thoughts?

Gambling is the smoking of our time. In generations to come people will look back at this one and think we were nuts to not rein it in.

Government have a responsibility, the GAA and sporting organisations also. I’m not confident tbh because gambling is inextricably tied to the racing industry and the racing industry hold sway over a lot of politicians.

Without legal backing it’s hard to see how the GAA can really act, apart from not taking any money whatsoever in any form from betting companies. I know Paddy Power had a corporate box in Croke Park, they should be booted out if not already.

 

[Cloudy O'Ranieri]

The new regulator is on the way https://www.grai.ie/

It'll be interesting to see what measures they impose but it's hard to see anything drastic.

Gambling in the western world, outside of places like France and Germany, is growing rapidly. The US is seeing an explosion, either from sportsbooks in states where it's fully legal, or under the guise of "Prediction Markets" where it isn't.

 

[El Guapo]

Gambling is the smoking of our time.

I would say vaping is the smoking of our time

 

[Hallbopping]

I would say vaping is the smoking of our time

I meant in terms of sports sponsorship, advertising etc

 

[El Guapo]

Good paper

https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/JA202261.pdf

Describes participation in team sports with gambling in young males as a dose response effect.

 

[El Guapo]

I meant in terms of sports sponsorship, advertising etc

I know I just couldn't resist.

 

[Hallbopping]

I know I just couldn't resist.

A smoking gun tbf.

 

[El Guapo]

I am genuinely on the fence about this.

I don't gamble. I have seen the effects of problem gambling up close and it is utterly devastating for families.

I have seen the hugely positive effect sport has on young men and women in terms of physical, psychological and social benefits. I gave also seen some of the darker aspects of male (and I'm sure female) sport a certain obsession and a pack mentality that can normalise some shitty and destructive behaviours

I also know that sport for massive sections of the population is enjoyed through the pism of gambling. I know that the sports book is huge business..I cringe when I see those funny paddy power ads being forwarded on WhatsApp because it makes suckers of us all. And Gambling money has resulted in higher funding for sport which leads to higher participation. But would rather not buy a jersey with a payday loan company or bookies website on the front and certainly don't want my kids to wear one.

I'm also not a puritan..if some young fella wants to stick 40 quid on a shitty accumulator every week and follows.Division 3 Dutch leagues hoping for a few score draws what is it to me.

Not sure what I'm saying here other than Gambling has its place, Any ban would probably lead to worse black marketing for problem gambling.

I hope my kids play sport and don't get sucked into it.

it's very intractable and difficult for GAA or whomever beyond ineffective education programmes

Anyone have a few tips for Cheltenham?

 

[Jukka]

I think the yanks have made it 10 times harder to tackle this by letting their own genie out of the bottle a few years ago.

The advertising is depressing. Characters you’d think more of like Cantona taking the dime from them.

You’d have to wonder what the GAA can do aside from refuse to take advertising money themselves, and maybe be more explicit that they never will. I don’t think they can have any impact on who RTE decide to allow advertise on their own player or on live tv.