Urgent need to address gambling addiction

been in the news over the past few days. This ‘other’ Tony O’Reilly had a gambling addiction that cost him an extraordinary €20 million. A post office manager, he stole €1.75 million from his employer, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison. Having been released after serving 18 months, he now works as an addiction counsellor.

A recent poll of inter-county GAA players revealed some very worrying statistics, with 79% declaring themselves to be current gamblers, and two admitting to having placed single bets of €10,000 or more. Fourteen per cent of those surveyed had placed bets of between €100 and €1,000, while only 14% had never bet at all.

like Tony O’Reilly will serve as a warning to others of the dangers of gambling.

O’Reilly says that the core age of gamblers is definitely coming down, and that, contrary to public opinion, it only takes weeks, not months or years, to become addicted. The Government are due to debate the Gambling Regulation Bill in the near future and Tony hopes that regulation of the industry will bring some accountability. At the moment there is very little scrutiny. In one school, half the pupils of 15-year-olds had an online gambling account.

A man called Tony O’Reilly (namesake of the renowned businessman and one of Ireland’s best ever rugby players) has

Allez Ireland!

One of the great things about sport is that we can never be sure as to how things will turn out in any game or event.

I have to admit that when I heard on Saturday morning that Conor Murray and Finlay Bealham had been late call ups to the Irish rugby team, my heart sank and I feared for our lads in the closed roof cauldron of Cardiff’s Principality stadium.

A few years ago Murray was rightly regarded as the best scrum-half in the world, but his star has fallen so far that he is now only third choice in Munster. Eyes were raised when Irish coach Andy Farrell still had him in the national set-up.

Of course, as is his wont, Murray came up trumps when the chips were down, and along with Connacht player, Bealham, fitted seamlessly into a very impressive Irish team.

When we were younger we were regular visitors to Cardiff on international match day, and while we always had great craic, we seldom experienced many victories. So a 24-point win on Saturday has to be seen as a super result.

This Saturday we take on the French in the Aviva – hopefully the remains of our ageing touring party will be on site to see what I am sure will be a battle royale. No doubt we will do our best to celebrate the result, whether we win or lose.

A bit like Conor Murray, we are not the men we used to be – places like Coppers needn’t worry about any invasion by the free travel brigade.

Before I leave sport I have to congratulate the Rossies on their great start to the league, and well done to Davy Burke and his backroom team on their win in Salthill over a seemingly very poor Galway side.

On our side of the border the injury to Damien Comer is the biggest worry after the weekend. Let’s hope he can make a reasonably quick recovery.

Even as someone who hardly ever has a flutter, I am aware that there are now so many ways to gamble online that it’s almost impossible to ignore the temptation, but it is to be hoped that the experiences of people

Anyway, it all serves to highlight the dangers of gambling, regulated or not, and when an ordinary post office manager can lose €20 million it’s a warning to everyone as to how far a little flutter can go.

All kinds of addictions can be very costly, but gambling addiction can really spiral completely out of control and end up costing millions – as Tony O’Reilly knows well.