The Government has approved plans to establish an Irish gambling regulatory authority.

It's hoped the new body will ensure that betting is "safe and fair" for those who wish to gamble.

The authority will look to develop and enforce necessary licensing and regulatory measures around all gambling activities.

It will also focus on the protection of vulnerable people through measures such as age restrictions, staff training, and self-exclusion measures - as well as controls on advertising, promotions and sponsorship.

Meanwhile, it's also planned that a new 'social fund' will support gambling research, information campaigns and treatment.

The Minister of State with special responsibility for gambling regulation, David Stanton, spoke to the Hard Shoulder about the plans - saying the new body will be a "sizable" operation.

He explained: "The regulator will have the resources and the legal authority to investigate, and to be proactive.

"They will have to develop licencing conditions that will be fair, clear, legitimate and transparent to everybody - strict licencing conditions will be developed by the authority as well."

He added: "It will also have to regulate advertising, sponsorship and promotion of gambling products. That's a very difficult one to do, because a lot of this is online and a lot of it is beamed in from abroad."

Meanwhile, the Government's also published plans to 'modernise' the existing Gambling and Lotteries Act.

It will include measures to standardise the minimum gambling age at 18, as well as updating some stake and prize limits.

The stake and prize limits of some gaming machines will be upped to €10 and €750 respectively (from 3c and 50c) - the first increase to the limits since 1956.