Irish online betting platforms are at a crossroads. Ireland is trying to introduce new laws that will help tighten up the industry while ensuring there is not over-regulation that stifles the industry’s creativity.
The purpose of regulation
Many people seem to believe that laws surrounding a live casino in Ireland serve to stifle innovation in the industry. The laws are hard and fast rules that an online betting platform must follow and that is all. Many people believe that these rules are strict. To some extent they are, but the purpose isn’t quite what many people believe.
It’s no secret that online betting can cause problems for problem gamblers, and some less trustworthy platforms can be a bit predatory. The rules are intended to prohibit this by:
- Ensuring gameplay is fair. This means that the game is completely random and that the chances of winning each “game” are the same as any other game. This means that the player has the same chances of winning every time he plays the game.
- Ensuring that any issues are properly handled by the betting platform.
- Ban on problem gamblers. This means blocking their access if their betting becomes too much of a problem, or highlighting when a player should slow down.
- Regulating the way platforms are promoted.
- Ensuring that customer funds and information are properly protected.
This is exactly where regulation is trying to address. We are sure you can agree that these are things that should be regulated to ensure players are adequately protected when playing online games.
The balance between regulation and innovation
As noted, regulation is not intended to stifle innovation. It serves to make games fairer for the player. Essentially, regulations protect players. Although Irish legislation is still fairly new and may not be doing a particularly good job at the moment, we have no doubt that any issues with the legislation will be ironed out to encourage creativity in the live casino industry. However, current laws do a great job of preventing “over-policing” in the industry while ensuring that the industry is not a free-for-all.
The rules don’t prohibit creative game design, and we’re seeing some brilliant live dealer casinos starting up online. Gone are the days when players limited themselves to a bit of blackjack, baccarat and a bit of roulette. There are now dozens and dozens of live dealer games that a player can potentially play. How the games are offered is regulated.
First of all, the games have to be “fair”. Casino game developers have to work incredibly hard to ensure that the odds of winning are equal on every spin, deal or dice roll. If the game is not fair, it violates gambling laws. Therefore, many game developers stick with the tried and tested gaming options. It’s just the bigger developers who focus on creating more unique games because they can afford the testing.
We would like to point out that gambling laws in Ireland are currently being phased in. This means that game developers and live casinos don’t have to make all the changes at once. Instead, there are currently only a few important topics in play, such as those related to the fairness of games. This means that technology has time to adapt to changing laws and that creativity in the company should not be stifled too much. In fact, this will allow companies to incorporate the regulations into their newer games, meaning they will be “fair” at launch.
The only other major issue that live dealer casinos may have to deal with is advertising laws. It’s now harder to attract new players to live dealer casinos, meaning there may not be much investment in brand new games. There may also be restrictions on how dealers can promote the placement of bets during their games. Ultimately we think this is fair as you don’t want to push people too hard to gamble.
Final thoughts
Ireland strikes just the right balance between regulation and innovation in the live dealer casino industry. They are not subject to excessive regulation, meaning companies have the freedom to create high-quality games. Developers only have to follow a few rules, like “be fair to players,” but let’s be honest, this was still important.
