An all-party group at the Stormont Assembly wants the UK DCMS to bring in rules for gambling advertising. 

UK.- Members of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly are asking London to extend British rules on gambling advertising to the territory.

Northern Ireland has devolved policy-making powers on a number of issues, and that includes gambling. However, long delays in reforming the territory’s gambling legislation have led a group of MLAs to call for the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport to extend British regulations for gambling advertising.

Members of the All-Party Group of the Stormont Assembly on Gambling Harms Reduction have written to DCMS secretary of state Lisa Nandy to call for her to “bridge the gap on gambling advertising”. The group, which is chaired by Philip McGuigan of Sinn Féin and deputy chaired by Robbie Butler of the UUP, said that Northern Ireland’s outdated gambling legislation made it an outlier in the UK with no control over gambling advertising.

They wrote: “We urge you to use your existing powers under the Gambling Act 2005 to take immediate action on gambling advertising and promotion and protect people across these islands from further gambling-related harm.”

They claim that Northern Ireland has the “highest levels of gambling-related harm across these islands”, making the public particularly vulnerable to heavy advertising by Gambling Commission-licensed operators. They have asked Nandy to use DCMS powers under the Gambling Act 2005 to limit gambling advertising during major sports events and to introduce other restrictions to protect children and vulnerable people. 

“While remote gambling operators licensed by the Gambling Commission can freely advertise in Northern Ireland, as online and broadcast advertising is a reserved matter, our population is afforded no protection by the regulator,” they said. “However, you have the power under existing laws to prevent our children from being bombarded with gambling-related marketing during major sports broadcasts, such as Premier League matches, and to prevent those already experiencing gambling harms from being targeted by gambling companies on social media.

“Introducing restrictions similar to those in Ireland would have a profound benefit for Northern Ireland, Britain, and Ireland, where British TV is widely watched.”

The DCMS has said that it will respond to the letter in due course.

The Northern Ireland Betting, Gaming, Lotteries & Amusements Order of 1985 was updated in 2022 to permit the opening of gambling venues on Sundays and introduce new criminal liabilities, but online gambling is still not dealt with in the legislation and planned follow-up reforms to cover the area have yet to materialise. Meanwhile, some MLA’s took a favourable view of advances south of the border, where the Republic of Ireland’s Gambling Regulation Bill has introduced a new gambling regulator and restrictions for gambling advertising. 

The All-Party Group submitted 57 proposals for a new Gambling Bill after the General Election in July but was told by the Department for Communities (DfC) that the Assembly had no space to handle such a complex matter.