Irish online betting platforms are at a crossroads. Ireland is attempting to introduce new legislation that will help to tighten up the industry, while also ensuring that they do not over-regulate to the point where the industry’s creativity is stifled.
The purpose of regulation
Many people seem to believe that laws related to a live casino in Ireland are designed to stifle innovation in the business. The laws are fixed rules that an online betting platform needs to follow, and that’s that. Many people believe these rules are strict. They are, to an extent, but the purpose isn’t quite what many people believe it to be.
It is no secret that online betting can cause issues for problem gamblers, and some less-than-trustworthy platforms can be somewhat predatory. Rules are designed to prohibit this by:
- Ensuring that gameplay is fair. This means that gameplay is completely random and that the odds on each ‘play’ are the same as on any other play. This means that the player has an equal chance of winning every time they play the game.
- Ensuring that any issues are handled properly by the betting platform.
- Prohibiting problem gamblers. This means blocking their access if their betting becomes too much of an issue or highlighting when a player should slow down.
- Regulating how platforms are advertised.
- Ensuring that customer funds and information are properly protected.
This is what regulation tries to tackle. We are sure that you can agree that these are things that should be regulated to ensure that players are properly protected when playing online games.
The balance between regulation and innovation
As mentioned, regulation isn’t meant to stifle innovation. It is in place to make games fairer for the player. In essence, regulations protect players. While the Irish legislation is still fairly new and might not be doing a brilliant job at the moment, we have no doubt that any issues with the legislation will be ironed out to support creativity in the live casino industry. Despite this, the current laws do a great job at avoiding ‘over policing’ in the industry while ensuring the industry is not a free-for-all.
The rules don’t ban creative game design, and we are starting to see some brilliant live dealer casinos launch online. Gone are the days when players would be limited to a bit of blackjack, baccarat and some roulette. Now, there are dozens and dozens of live dealer games that a player can potentially play. What is regulated is how the games are offered.
For starters, the games need to be ‘fair’ to play. Casino game developers need to work incredibly hard to ensure that the odds are the same on every spin, deal or throw of the dice. If the game is not fair, it will fall foul of gambling legislation. As a result, many game developers are sticking to the tried-and-true game options. It is only the larger developers that are branching out to create more unique games, since they can afford the testing.
We do want to point out that gambling laws in Ireland are currently undergoing a phased rollout. This means that game developers and live casinos don’t need to make all the changes at once. Instead, just a few major ones such as those about the fairness of games are currently in play. This means that technology will have the time to adapt to the changing laws and that creativity in the business shouldn’t be stifled too much. In fact, it will allow companies to bake the regulations into their newer games, meaning they are ‘fair’ when launched.
The only other major issue that live dealer casinos may have to deal with entails advertising laws. It is now harder to attract new players to live dealer casinos, which means there might not be a huge amount of investment in brand-new games. There may also be limits on how dealers can promote placing bets during their games. Ultimately, we think this is fair as you don’t want to push people into gambling too heavily.
Final thoughts
Ireland is getting the balance of regulation and innovation in the live dealer casino industry just right. They are not over-regulating, meaning companies are free to develop quality games. Developers just need to live within a few rules, such as ‘be fair to players’, but let’s be honest, that was important anyway.
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How Ireland balances regulation and innovation in live casinos