A Wexford councillor is calling on the Government to introduce legislation for shops to have an area designated for scratch cards and Lotto tickets, rather than allowing them to be sold at the regular tills.
The move would be similar to laws introduced in 2020 around the sale of alcohol.
Wexford County Councillor and addiction counsellor Davy Hynes, told Newstalk Breakfast: "I’m a county councillor, I’m also an addiction counsellor, I meet people with gambling problems and other issues around addiction.
"Very recently I came across a lady who was finding it difficult to avoid buying scratchcards."
"They are placed very deliberately, I think, at the checkouts on the way out, and you can’t miss them, I thought it would be a good thing for people," he added.
Mr Hynes spoke to the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, James Browne, about the proposal and said it was "very well received".
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast on Wednesday morning, Councillor Hynes continued: "James Browne introduced legislation to do with gambling maybe six months ago, I spoke to him myself.
"There was a lot of pushback from the National Lottery and it didn’t go in, but he did say it was something that should be looked at and considered.
"Gambling has become so insidious, online now is not like the day when you had to go to your local betting shop, I have met people in serious debt because of gambling issues.
"Norway has outlawed ads on gambling, we should be following suit."
Minister James Browne introduced the Gambling Bill, which established the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) which will be responsible for regulating the gambling industry in Ireland.
A new Health Research Board (HRB) study examined 3,000 cases treated for problem gambling in Ireland between 2008 and 2019, published in May 2022 in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine. It is the first Irish national study using routinely gathered health surveillance data to describe treated problem gambling, according to drugsandalcohol.ie.
The most recent Irish figures from 2022 show that almost one half of the population (49 per cent) engage in gambling, while the prevalence rate for problem gambling among the general population is 0.3 per cent, indicating there are 12,000 people with problem gambling in Ireland.
The GRAI will replace State bodies that have been involved in different aspects of the licensing and regulation of the sector.
The Rutland Addiction Treatment Centre describes a gambling addiction, also called compulsive gambling, as "the uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life."
The centre says that diagnosing a gambling addiction can be hard due to varying accepted levels of social behaviour.
The key symptoms of spotting gambling addiction, according to the Rutland Centre, are:
Mood swings: Those closest to diagnosed problem gamblers have said that mood swings were a significant sign of a problem, including highs and lows, irritability and short-tempered responses (Fulton, 2015)
Unhappiness or depression: According to research by Professor David Forrest of Liverpool University, problem gamblers can often be "as miserable as cancer patients", as such, being a problem gambler also tripled the likelihood of extreme unhappiness (Forrest, 2012).
Dishonest behaviour: Those addicted to gambling often act dishonestly. A prime example is dishonestly taking money from loved ones, friends or employers. Other examples may also include starting arguments purely as an excuse to gamble (Fulton, 2015).
Secretive or evasive: In order to hide their gambling problem from others, those addicted to gambling can be secretive and evasive about financial matters or their whereabouts. Those closest to a problem gambler have said that the lying and secrecy were two of the most difficult behaviours to understand (Fulton, 2015).
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