If you want a case study in glacial gambling reform and how to “kick the can down the road”, Japan is not the only candidate – Ireland is also a good case in point. The current state of affairs in Ireland is that gambling is hardly regulated, although successive Governments have acknowledged that it needs root and branch reform. The main piece of legislation that covers both gaming and betting is the The Gaming and Lotteries Act, 1956, which was described by a Government Committee in 2008 as “minimalist”.
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