The history of gambling in Ireland has moved forward

Simply by way of a change we thought it would be interesting if gambling.ie explored the history and current status of gambling in Ireland. Ireland is predominantly a rural community and most of the population are now employed in farming and the service industries. It is also a relatively large country with just two major cities in Dublin and Cork. Popular gambling has therefore been confined to sports gambling through a network of local betting shops located on our town high streets, with casino gambling almost unknown outside the major urban areas because there were no casinos within easy reach. Sports gambling in Ireland has also historically been weighted firmly in favour of horse racing for many years, although football and in particular the English Premier League has been catching up. Greyhound racing is also staging a bit of a comeback as more tracks are refurbished brought up to date, but what is it that has been most instrumental in encouraging our natural gambling instincts in the population as a whole. Many would argue that the Lottery was the first opportunity for the majority of the population to get involved with gambling, and there is no doubt that lottery gambling and the more recent scratch cards have encouraged many more people to have a flutter as part of their daily lives. We now have another significant step change in our gambling history which may turn out to be just as effective in expanding gambling as a leisure activity as the Lottery, and that is online gambling. Even sports gambling fans no longer need to go to their local betting shop to follow their favourite sport, but online gambling has also brought casino gambling to the attention of far more people and judging by the reported success of the online gambling site operators we have certainly taken casino gambling to our hearts. Online poker and the vast range of casino slots games have rapidly established themselves as a leisure activity available to anyone who has a computer, tablet or modern mobile phone, and it no longer matters where you live providing you have internet access.