Why Is Sports Betting Culture So Big In Ireland?
Sports betting has been a popular pastime all over the world for hundreds of years. When it comes to Ireland though, you are hard-pressed to find a culture that are so excited and enthusiastic about the practice. What is it about the country that makes sports betting such a fun past time, and why did it come about?
The Beginning Of Sports Betting In Ireland
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when betting started becoming a pastime in Ireland. Some historians will pinpoint the mid-19th century as when sports betting became popular, although others believe it goes back a lot further than that before records were even kept. There is no doubt that conventional games such as lotteries and dice and encouraged gambling, but Ireland got a head start when it came to sports betting in particular.
This is thanks to the emergence of horse racing, which soon became an integral part of Irish culture. As long as Irish people have been training horses, they have been closely watched and coveted by those involved in the horse racing scene.
Irish horses have long been known as some of the best around, and even now knowledgeable punters will be watching them at the Grand National, as they are expected to do very well at this event. Thanks to this reputation as turning out the best racehorses, horse racing betting became a staple in Ireland.
It is important to note that horse racing betting was incredibly popular, even though technically it was illegal. All gambling was not legalized until 1956, which is shockingly recent when compared to other countries out there.
The Beginning Of Legalized Betting In Ireland
With the legalization of betting in Ireland, this opened the floodgates for betting on a variety of different sports. In particular, Gaelic football and hurling started to see a large betting culture grow around them. Alongside horse racing, you could really see betting becoming a top Irish past time.
With betting becoming so popular, lawmakers were then considering how they could get a tax return from these bets. This was even more important as betting shops began to show up all over the country, allowing people to bet on their favourite sports even if they weren’t there in person.
The Explosion Of Online Betting
The next major change to betting was the introduction of online betting to Ireland. There were betting companies who were launching their own online sites as soon as the turn of the 21st century, but they really came into their own thanks to the COVID pandemic in 2020.
During this time, lockdown was enforced so betting companies could not carry out to business as normal. That lead to a lot of them making the move online, and offering their services that way. This proved to be highly popular with punters who still wanted to enjoy betting even though they had to stay home, and so businesses saw a massive boom in betting in this time.
Of course, this meant that even more betting companies where established and brought online, vying for a piece of the audience’s attention. Nowadays there are over 100 different Irish bookmakers online, accord to topbetting.ie. Another benefit of these companies being online was that they could offer markets in more and more niche sports, something that was not always available with in-person betting services.
During this time, many Irish bookmakers in particular saw a lot of success. For example, take Irish betting staple Paddy Power. They saw their monthly customers grow by 36%, just in 2020. That number has only grown in the following years, as more people understand what online betting can offer them.
Changes In Irish Legislation
This brings us to the current day, so what can we expect from Irish betting culture? There is no denying that online betting is here to stay, with so many people joining up with betting sites and enjoying what they have every day.
The Irish governments are now considering whether they need to make changes to the law to accommodate for online betting. While it has become wildly popular, the concern is that betting has made its way to those who should not be taking part, such as children.
Proposals have been made to heavily restrict how betting sites are advertised, and what they can offer members. The opinions on these changes very a lot, with some thinking that it will actually damage the Irish economy due to the restrictions. Right now though, these are only proposals so it is unsure whether the law will be changed to reflect them.
No matter what happens though, betting in Ireland will always be a proud past time of Irish people. That is the case either whether they are betting in person or online. Even with recent changes in the way betting happens, you can be sure there’s always something exciting to bet on right now.