Casino Facts linked to Ireland

When you hear the work ‘casino’, what are the first locations that come to your mind? Las Vegas? Macao? For us, it’s Ireland – it’s a country synonymous with casinos in our mind - check out slots offers. We thought that we would pay a homage to Irish casinos today by breaking down our top three casino facts linked to Ireland.

Read on to find out more! We’re going to be taking a look at:

-        Legality of casinos in Ireland

-        Irish member-only casino clubs

-        Gambling trends in Ireland

Fact 1: Land-based casinos are illegal in Ireland

You heard that right – whilst gambling is massively associated with the country, traditional land-based casinos are 100% illegal in Ireland! This is due to rules and regulations that state that gambling-related brick and mortar businesses can only operate if they contribute to charitable causes. Ultimately, this means that there are some exceptions – you can legally play bingo at land-based venues in Ireland, and other land-based gambling such as lotteries and scratch cards are also completely fine. However, the standard casinos found in the UK, USA and many other countries are completely illegal. How on earth does Ireland cope with this? Well, there is a way – let’s find out!

Fact 2: Ireland has 12 legal members-only ‘casino clubs’

Even though typical casinos are illegal in the country, casino operators have actually found a loophole which allows them to conduct business within Ireland! How does this work exactly? Well, it's simple really:

-        There are only 12 of these currently allowed in the country, seven of which are located in Dublin

-        The businesses can operate under the strict circumstances that every player must have a membership

-        Despite being pretty exclusive, the majority of these memberships are still 100% free

So, although land-based casinos are completely illegal in Ireland, there are in fact ‘casino clubs’. It doesn’t make much sense, but we love it!

Fact 3: Ireland has one of the highest rates of gambling in the entire world

You may think that is a pretty strong statement, but it’s true – despite the pretty strict regulations, Ireland loves gambling. In fact, a recent study from 2019 showed that throughout the year, over two thirds of all adults in Ireland gambled within the year! When you think about it, that is pretty astonishing. Whilst it should be obvious that land-based casinos do not contribute massively to this due to their exclusive nature, get this – online casinos are 100% legal! As you can imagine, this means that these huge statistics are contributed to massively by online casino business – they’re at the forefront of the technology!

Final Thoughts

We hoped that you enjoyed these three facts about casinos in Ireland – we think we managed to squeeze in a few bonus facts there too! It’s very interesting how the country has strict casino restrictions yet has more gamblers than many other European countries, and we put this all down to their incredible online casino industry. So, what are you waiting for? Go see what all the fuss is about!