Landmark gambling laws come before Cabinet

The regulator will be given powers to remove or suspend gambling licences and will be able to freeze accounts as well as block incoming payments to providers, The Irish Times reports.

A social impact fund will be set up to place a levy on gambling firms and will be used to fund addiction treatment. Furthermore, the new authority will have the power to issue codes governing the time and frequency gambling advertising can appear on television and other media.

Those who fall foul of the code will be subject to enforceable sanctions and the use of children in advertisements will be banned. In addition, a self-exclusion register will be brought in to allow people to restrict themselves from being able to gamble with providers for months a time.

The law has been worked on by Justice Minister Heather Humphreys and minister of state in the Department of Justice James Browne.