Sep 2, 2013
Sport & betting has been the subject of much commentary in recent times. In the main it has been protecting the integrity of sport from the potential threat of gambling as well as betting tax as a potential revenue stream for sports funding that have been the subject of the most intention. The regulation of gambling to include, recent developments in the gambling industry as well as the introduction of certain measures to protect vulnerable adults and young people that are the main focus of the proposed Gambling Control Bill, the General Scheme of which was published by Minister for Justice, Equality & Defence, Alan Shatter TD in July 2013. Read below for potential impact on sport.
The Gambling Control Bill with its dual focus as outlined above will repeal and replace all existing arrangements for the regulation of betting, gaming, bingo and lotteries (except for the National Lottery). It will extend the licensing regime to include on-line and electronic gambling and will also establish arrangements for the licensing and supervision of casinos.
Lotteries are frequently used by sports clubs as a means of fundraising. In this regard it is interesting to note that Head 19 outlines specific licensing provisions where a lottery is linked to a charitable clause including, a non-profit sports or recreational club, facility, organisation or enterprise.
Head 74 outlines particular provisions to apply to sponsorship by gambling licence holders which, in particular provides that any events sponsored by licence holders must directed primarily at an audience that is over 18 years of age whilst, all advertising of such sponsorships will need to be in compliance with rules to be developed by the proposed regulatory body to be established in accordance with the legislation.
The Bill also envisages, in Part 7, the establishment of a Social Fund to be funded by the licence holders. The purpose of the fund is to be two fold namely, to promote social responsible gambling and to assist in counter-acting the ill-effects, for society, as well as for persons and their families, of irresponsible gambling. The Fund will be overseen by the regulatory authority to be established by the legislation and will have the ability to partake with other persons in programmes that are consistent with its purposes and that promote its objectives.
As far as “betting tax” and its proceeds are concerned this is to remain the prerogative of the Department of Finance. In this regard, Minister Noonan recently reminded the Dáil that changes to betting tax to include on-line betting and betting exchanges which, to date have been outside the tax net, were provided for in the Finance Act, 2011. These measures however, he said, cannot be introduced until such time as the Betting (Amendment) Bill is enacted.
The Betting (Amendment) Bill was first published in July 2012 but both his officials and those from Revenue are currently drawing up amendments to the Bill to strengthen its enforcement measures. Minister Noonan confirmed that he hopes to return to Government in the near future to republish the Bill although, he pointed out that EU Law requires him to show the Bill to the EU Commission and other Member States resulting in a minimum of 3 months for clearance. He confirmed that he would also be examining his options regarding the taxing of online casino and poker formats once the Gambling Control Bill is enacted.
The Betting Tax is currently used to part fund the Horse & Greyhound Racing Fund (the “Fund”). There has been considerable pressure from the Horse & Greyhound Industry to bring on-line betting into the tax net as a means of boosting the amount available to the Fund from betting tax proceeds.
Betting however is no longer exclusively related to horse and greyhound racing. Recent commentary from would indicate that whilst horse & greyhound racing remains the principle staple in betting shops, other sports principally football make up an estimated 70% of bets placed on line. These changes should be reflected in future discussions around the use of the betting tax proceeds and in particular, whether a fair proportion should be used to provide funding for other sports particularly, at a time when funding for sport is in such short supply.
Aug 30, 2013
There’s been a 13 per cent increase in the number of school children in Scotland getting involved in sports during term time.
Figures from Sportscotland show that participant sessions increased to 5,063,000 during the academic year 2012-13 from 4,499,000 in 2011-12 – a rise of more than half a million.
The increase has been attributed to the government’s Active Schools campaign, which aims to provide more and higher quality opportunities for children to participate in school sport and to increase capacity through the recruitment of volunteers who deliver the activity sessions. In 2012-13 Sportscotland invested a total of £11.9m into the Active Schools Network, which delivers the programme.
As a result of the investment, the number of people delivering Active Schools supported sessions has significantly risen by 22.3 per cent from 15,792 in 2011-12 to 19,321 in 2012-13, with more than 16,000 being unpaid volunteers.
Louise Martin CBE, chair of Sportscotland, said: “These are excellent figures that show significant increases across all Active Schools measurements.
“There are more than 400 Active Schools coordinators working in schools across all 32 local authorities in Scotland and they are supporting the delivery of more and better opportunities to take part in sport and physical activities before school, during lunchtime, and after school.”
Sportscotland works in partnership with all 32 local authorities to invest in and support the Active Schools Network of managers and coordinators who work with primary, secondary, and Additional Support Needs (ASN) schools across Scotland.
The Eurydice Report published on March 23rd 2013 which looked at physical education (PE) in 28 European Countries, found that Irish primary school pupils in Europe receive less time on physical education (PE) than other schoolchildren in Europe. Whilst at secondary level only two countries spend less time than is made available in Irish schools.
One third of the countries that took part in the survey are currently planning reforms to PE. Finland and Portugal are intending to raise the profile of PE by increasing the minimum taught time. Greece and Hungry are working to improve the diversity of the offering during PE whilst, reforms in many countries are seeking to improve the conditions in which PE is delivered and promote the training of those who teach it.
The findings would seem to support the findings of the 2010 Irish Sports Council sponsored research carried out by DCU, UCC and UL which looked at children’s participation in sport and physical activity. This report found that only 35% of primary and 10% of secondary school students were obtaining the recommended minimum levels of PE as set out by the Department of Education with girls receiving less PE time than boys.
Read More Here about SportScotland’s Investment
A FULL COPY OF THE EURYDICE REPORT CAN BE DOWNLOADED BY CLICKING HERE
THE 2010 CHIDLREN’S SPORT PARTICIPATION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY STUDY CAN BE VIEWED BY CLICKING HERE
Aug 29, 2013
Federation CEO, Sarah O’Connor featured alongside Kelli O’Keefe, Director of Sport at Slattery PR and Keira Kennedy, Commercial and Marketing Manager at Leinster Rugby on RTE’s 2fm Game On earlier this month. The slot was part of Mick O’Keefe’s , MD of Pembroke Communications, weekly “Business of Sport” show and examined the issue of women working in sport.
Conclusions reached were that there are an increasing number of women in senior roles within Irish Sport. This was largely attributable to the reality that with sport professionalising gender was becoming less of an issue and it really was the best person for the job. Reference was also made to the growing number of women getting involved in sport as well as the significant role of women in making key household spending decisions not to mention sporting decisions!
There was also an opportunity to discuss the key role sport plays in Irish life in particular, the wider contribution of sport in terms of business, tourism and public health. The podcast of the show is available at link below:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_gameon.xml
Aug 29, 2013
The Department of Health in the UK recently announced an investment of £5 million in sport aimed at getting children and their families to get more active. The funding is part of the UK Government’s plans to increase investment in preventative healthcare. It is estimated that preventable conditions such as diabetes, stroke and diabetes cost the NHS £1 billion a year. In Ireland, it is estimated that physical inactivity costs the HSE some €1.68 billion annually.
The UK funds are to be channelled three ways with the Youth Sport Trust receiving £3 million to develop new school sports clubs as part of the Change4Life School Sports Programme, in areas with the highest rates of childhood obesity. A further £1 million is to go to Play England which is to be used to help children and families to play together on their streets whilst, the remaining £1 million to local authorities for walking initiatives.
Announcing the investment, public health Minister, Anna Soubry said;
“We want to do everything we can to help people lead longer, healthier lives, which is why for the first time ever, we’ve given local authorities increased and ring-fenced budgets to tackle public health issues in their local areas.”
This latest funding announcement comes on the back of the commitment earlier in the year to give £300 million directly to primary head teachers to spend on improving sport, PE and encouraging healthy lifestyles for their pupils over the next two years.
Meanwhile, PrimeMinister David Cameron has confirmed that a number of English cities and parks are to benefit from a £94 million cash injection to promote cycling. The UK Government has said that the money amounts to the single biggest ever investment in cycling.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the announcement includes a commitment to cut red tape that can “stifle cycle-friendly road design and to encourage changes to the way roads are built or altered”. UK Councils will be also expected to up their game to deliver infrastructure that takes cycling into account from the design stage.
These funding announcements are evidence of the reality that many government departments impact on sport and indeed, that sport can help meet multiple policy objectives particularly, in the area of public health. The GAA’s ASAP & Club Healthy initiatives are good examples of what is possible when sport and public health officials come together in partnership. It is hoped that increased interaction and co-operation between the Department of Health and Irish Sport will become increasingly commonplace.
For more please see www.sportsmanagement.co.uk
Aug 29, 2013
Federation of Irish Sport Featured Member: Horse Sport Ireland
Background/History: Horse Sport Ireland was established by the Government in 2008 to bring the sport, breeding and leisure aspects of the sport horse sector together.
Number of Membership Organisations: Horse Sport Ireland currently has 23 affiliated organisations.
Number of Participants in Horse Sport in Ireland: A study by UCD identified that almost 50,000 took part in sport horse related activities in Ireland each week. The sector is Worth of €700 million to the Irish economy and supports over 12,000 full time jobs. Some 29,000 people depend on the sector for some part of their income.
2012 Highlights: Cian O’Connor winning Bronze at the Olympic Games. The Paralympic Team winning team bronze and Helen Kearney winning two individual medals. In addition the Showjumping Team won the Aga Khan trophy at the Dublin Horse Show and we won 7 underage European Championship medals.
2013 Highlights (so far):
A New Chairman Professor Patrick Wall was appointed by Minister Varadkar in Februray. So far Ireland has won 4 underage European medals in underage eventing and Showjumping. The senior showjumping team won the Nations cup in Spruce Meadows in Canada. A High performnace Training facility will be formally opened at the National Sports campus in Abbotstown shortly.
What are the key events for HSI in 2013/2014?
The Dublin Horse Show and the Tattersalls International Horse Trials are the two major international events each year.
How can people get involved in Horse Sport?
People can participate at their local riding school or their local Pony Club. Horse Sport Ireland also ran a Schools programme in 2013. Full details of how to get involved can be found on the HSI website www.horsesportireland.ie
Social Media Channel Links:
Team Ireland Equestrian on Facebook has over 15,000 fans, while our TeamIRLeq on twitter has over 5,000 followers. In 2013 Horse Sport Ireland was nominated fro an equestrian social media award across Ireland and the UK.
Any interesting facts or statistics for inclusion in our Fact File
- Sector worth €700 million to the Irish economy
- Equestrian is the only sport where men and women compete against each other on an equal basis.
- Equestrian is the only sport in which Ireland won medals and the London Olympics and Paralympics
