Mayo gambling support service launched in Ballinrobe

ANYONE affected by gambling addiction in Mayo is encouraged to avail of a newly launched support service in Ballinrobe.

The service, which is offered exclusively through Ballinrobe Tacú, offers one-to-one counselling for people with gambling addiction and their families.

It is estimated that one in ten adults in Ireland are currently struggling with problem gambling. A further 280,000 people in Ireland are estimated to be suffering from moderate gambling habits.

“For every one of those people suffering from problem gambling, six other people are affected, so the service is really needed,” said Bernie Heneghan, gambling support therapist with Ballinrobe Tacú, said at an information event hosted in Tacú’s Credit Union House offices last Tuesday.

Though based in Ballinrobe, the service will cater for the whole county of Mayo. The service also caters to families who are the subject of drug debt-related intimidation.

Mary Jackson, Project Coordinator with Ballinrobe Tacú, said they would lobby for funding for a full-time gambling support service in the facility.

Ms Jackson said that confidentiality and anonymity are afforded to all family resource centre service users.

“That’s why family resource centres are ideally located for a project like this,” she added.

The launch of the service was addressed by Tony O’Reilly, who was jailed in 2012 after stealing €1.7 million from An Post to feed his gambling addiction.

Mr O’Reilly, who made his first bet at the age of 24, spent over €10 million on gambling over a ten-year period.

The Carlow native placed his final bet in Northern Ireland after he transferred over €1.7 million from his employer to fund gambling debts.

After being discovered by PSNI officers, Mr O’Reilly completed a recovery programme in Cuan Mhuire addiction treatment centre, before pleading guilty to stealing from An Post. He spent over a year on bail before being given a four-year jail sentence with one year suspended. He served 18 months in prison in total.

Before going to prison, Mr O’Reilly did a foundation course in psychotherapy and has abstained from gambling and alcohol. He subsequently wrote a book about his battle with addiction, Tony 10: The Astonishing Story of the Postman Who Gambled €10,000,000 ... and Lost it All. He gives regular lectures on gambling and provides addiction counselling to problem gamblers.

“I’m at the coalface of this problem for the last 12 or 13 years, we are still seeing the same failings today that were there during my story. We are still working with out-of-date legislation,” Mr O’Reilly said.

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024, which contains a raft of measures that would overhaul legislation around gambling and establish a dedicated gambling regulator, has yet to be fully enacted into law.

Ballinrobe Tacú Family Resource Centre can be contacted at 094 954 2908 or by emailing tacucoordinator@gmail.com.

Further coverage of the launch of the new gambling support service will be carried in Tuesday’s Mayo News.