The National Lottery operator has refused to tell an Oireachtas Committee how many people were contacted or had their accounts cut off due to overspending.
Premier Lotteries Ireland was also criticised for not being able to tell members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) how much money it spent on player welfare.
It comes after the Lottery Regulator told the Committee two weeks ago that 48 people who had asked the National Lottery not to contact them had received communications.
Premier Lotteries Ireland CEO Andrew Alego was asked by Sinn Féín’s Matt Carthy if there were spending limits in place for online lottery users.
Mr Alego said that caps are in place so that people can spend no more than €75 a day, €300 a week and €900 a month.
If they spent this much money, he explained, they would be flagged on daily and monthly reports.
“What would happen and does happen is that they would receive an ever-escalating set of messages which point out to them their relative spend versus what they used to spend or their relative spend versus other players,” he said.
“[If somebody doesn't reduce their activity], then they will get a phone call from a member of our staff who will have a conversation with them about doing expenditure and their activity on the account.
“In extremes, if the member of our staff isn't satisfied that the person in question is demonstrating that they're in control with their gambling, then we will reduce, we'll put some limits on the account including and up to exclusion.”
When asked by Deputy Carthy how many people had been contacted by phone or excluded, Mr Alego said that he did not have the figure but that it was communicated to the regulator.
He said that this information was “confidential”.
Mr Carthy suggested that disclosing this information could be a “good news story” for Premier Lotteries Ireland.
“I'm asking you would you share that information with us,” he said.
“The only reason I could think of why you wouldn't share that information is if the number was in fact very low or zero.”
Mr Allego insisted that the Lottery’s licence allowed the group to keep information confidential and declined to disclose the information as it has already been given to the regulator.
Independent TD Verona Murphy, meanwhile, asked Premier Lotteries Ireland how much money it spends on player welfare.
Mr Alego said that it was “difficult to quantify” this figure as it had introduced a new ID verification programme and it was unclear if this had led to a drop in sales.
He also said that he could not confirm if any more breaches had occurred that saw people who had sought self-exclusion.
Ms Murphy said: “For all the good you do, you are negating it by your neglect for the welfare of those who are operating a system.
“There's families being decimated by this activity and the safeguards are the only thing that we can rely on to ensure that we can keep it as a legalised gaming activity.
“What safeguards [are in place], how much are you spending on it?”.
Some 48 people were contacted by the National Lottery after asking to be excluded from communications.
Correspondence from the Lottery Regulator sent to PAC, seen by the Irish Mirror, confirmed that 1,465 people self-excluded in 2020, while 1,302 accounts self-excluded in 2021.
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