Residents in Finglas have gambling concerns over plans to open a gaming arcade in the village.
They say there are already enough gambling outlets in the area, even though the number of bookmakers has declined by 47%.
Newstalk reporter Josh Crosbie told The Pat Kenny Show that "even the parish priest has stepped in now”.
“[Residents] feel that there are already enough gambling outlets in the area – and to be honest, if you take a walk up through the village, there are four bookies,” he said.
“The main players have two outlets each and not far from the centre of the village, there’s another one as well.
“So, look, five in total and locals are now frustrated over a proposal for an arcade amusement to open on the main street.
“It’s still only early days, a planning application has been put in, but residents have already been coming out against it.”
Finglas village. Image: frank33 / Alamy. 14 April 2023Local resident Donna told Josh that is strongly opposed to the proposal.
“We’ve already had so much anti-social behaviour, it’s unreal – we just don’t need it,” she said.
“[It would] attract anything and everything, somewhere for them to hang about, you know what I mean?
“Somewhere for people to just stand around and do nothing, and you know what that causes, idle hands and stuff like that, so absolutely no.”
Other factors at play
According to statistics published by the Health Research Board in 2022, those living in the most deprived areas were also the most likely to be an at-risk or problem gambler.
The Pobal deprivation index classifies areas of Finglas as being disadvantaged or very disadvantaged.
However, gambling addiction counsellor Tony O’Reilly told Josh that there could be other factors at play as to why gambling outlets are seen more in disadvantaged areas.
“Maybe it’s because it’s easier to get shops in those areas,” he said.
“Because if you look at disadvantaged areas, sometimes you will have a lot of euro shops or a lot of vaping shops and phone shops, or even shops where you can go in and trade goods for cash.
“They probably do target certain areas... But nowadays they can target anyone because everyone has smartphones.
“Whether it’s someone from a disadvantaged area or not, everyone will have a smartphone.”
An illustrated image highlighting online gambling at the workplace. Image: Maddie Red Photography / AlamyMr O’Reilly said he would like to see stricter planning rules around the limit of certain outlets in an area to avoid normalising gambling.
The Irish Bookmakers Association has said that the number of shops across the country has gone from 1,385 in 2008 to just 731 at the end of last year, a decline of 47%.
Those behind the proposed arcade in Finglas have said that it will create eight full-time jobs and bring a building that has been vacant for more than two years back to life.
Main image: Close up arcade machine controls. Image: imageBROKER.com / Alamy. 8 February 2016
