Casino gambling laws in Northern Ireland date back to 1985

The discussions surrounding the outdated gambling laws both in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland continue to feature in Irish casino news with Alex Atwood, the Social Development Minister for the North, supporting a review of the old 1985 laws and hoping that new laws can be introduced which better reflect modern thinking of online casinos being a form of leisure. The current laws do not even allow gambling on a Sunday and there was of course no such thing as online casinos so regulation is not included. There is always a balance to be found with providing protection for the vulnerable whilst at the same time allowing freedom of choice over what for most people is entertainment but there are enough examples around of such legislation and the online casinos themselves are pretty good at identifying underage or problem gambling. There is of course also the question of taxation which has been in the casino news on a regular basis; for example the UK view on taxation has driven many online casino operators to base themselves offshore so if Northern Ireland follows that route although the government will gain additional revenue from land based operations it may miss out on substantially more income from casinos online. In the Republic there are also outdated laws but playing at an online casino is perfectly legal at any time of the day or night and although they are not regulated by law in our country most online casinos are based in places such as Gibraltar or Malta where friendly taxation exists and regulation has been set up specifically for such online operations. The Irish casino news will continue to have regular features until this is settled one way or another and the only real way forward is new laws..