ESRI Finds Online Betting Accounts Pull Irish Gamblers Into Faster Products

Research for Ireland's new regulator finds almost four in ten people who open an online account for horses or sport move on to casino games, slots, bingo or scratchcards. The regulator says it needs account and advertising rules, most not yet in force.

• The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) published a survey of 1,000 gamblers for the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) on 4 November: 38% of those who opened an account for horses or sport moved on to casino games, slots, bingo or scratchcards
• More than half of online account holders have more than one account, and around 10% of online gamblers hold four or more
• One in seven respondents said their most recent online session directly followed an email, app notification or gambling advert
• GRAI chief executive Anne Marie Caulfield said the research confirms the need for rules on account opening and closing, spending limits and advertising
• The findings arrive weeks before in-person bookmakers move to GRAI licences on 1 December, but the Act's advertising restrictions have no confirmed start date

Ireland's Regulator Commissions a Map of How Online Accounts Change Behaviour

The report, Patterns of online and in-person gambling in Ireland, is by Deirdre Robertson, Diarmaid Ó Ceallaigh, Shane Timmons and Pete Lunn, head of the ESRI's Behavioural Research Unit. Jim O'Callaghan, Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, launched it on 4 November. The 1,000 adults came from a market research panel, with quotas and weighting for age, gender, region and social grade to represent gamblers in Ireland; people who only bought lottery tickets or scratchcards in shops were excluded.

Some 77% had gambled online in the past year and 59% in person. Of the 80% with an open online account, 53% held more than one. Better prices, easy sign-up and offers were the main reasons for opening a second.

Accounts Opened for Sport Become Accounts for Casino and Slots

Only 6% opened an account to play casino games and 4.5% for slots, but a further 12% and 9% started on them once the account existed. Scratchcards rose from 15% to 28% on the same basis. Of those who joined for horses or sport, 38% began betting on one of these "more immediate" forms, the report says.

Some 62% of account holders receive operator emails and 52% app notifications, a quarter of the latter at least daily. Watching sport prompted 19% of most recent online sessions, an email or notification 9% and an advert 5.5%, which the ESRI counts as one in seven. For in-person gamblers the advert figure was about 3%.

Gamblers report that leaving is harder than joining: 70% called depositing "very easy" against 57% for withdrawals, and almost one in five who tried to close an account found it difficult. One in four are trying or plan to cut back; of those already trying, one in three were gambling as much or more than a year earlier. Fewer than one in ten of those cutting back used self-exclusion.

Colin O'Gara, head of addiction services at St John of God Hospital, told the Irish Examiner his patients had reported the same difficulty.

The GRAI Points to Its Next Rules

Caulfield said in the joint release on 4 November that the research "confirms the need for new obligations which will be placed on licensed operators", and that the GRAI's focus will be "practical and proportionate protections, including marketing standards, effective account controls and self-exclusion arrangements". She gave no timetable.

The One-in-Seven Figure Is a Floor, Not a Headline Number

The statistic counts recent sessions that followed an operator message or advert, not gamblers who were persuaded. A further 25% of online sessions followed a reminder of an upcoming event that respondents did not identify, so the share driven by marketing could be higher. The figures are self-reported, though, and say nothing about whether a prompted session was harmful.

Most of the Rules That Answer These Findings Are Not Yet Live

Remote betting licensees have had to close accounts on request since licensing began on 1 July. But the GRAI's guidance says the Act's advertising restrictions, including consent and opt-out for marketing by text and email, apply "from a date to be confirmed". Applications for gaming licences, covering the casino and slot products bettors are moving into, open during 2027 and 2028, the GRAI says. The ESRI notes the Act could limit accounts to specific activities, which would close the route, but wants to know first whether the pattern is linked to harm.

Without a Harm Measure, the Study Describes Behaviour Rather Than Damage

The report links none of its findings to problem gambling scores; the authors say that analysis is planned. Lunn said the ESRI's earlier work for the GRAI found one in 30 adults has problem gambling, and the report cites ESRI work finding that inducements had stronger effects on people with higher scores. Until the harm link is tested, operators can argue that cross-selling and multiple accounts are ordinary consumer behaviour, and the GRAI's "proportionate" wording leaves it room to agree.

The ESRI has given the GRAI evidence that online accounts widen what people gamble on and, by gamblers' own accounts, make stopping harder. Whether that becomes rules depends on commencement orders and a harm analysis that have yet to arrive.