We have received so much positive feedback from this interview with our team member, Tony O'Reilly, on the brilliant 'Talking Bollox Podcast'.  Raising awareness in this way, gets more people seeking help and gets more people talking about gambling addiction and its causes - which helps to destigmatise the issue.   You can listen to the audio version of the podcast here, or watch it on YouTube.   ..read more

While gambling addiction is often incorrectly viewed as a 'male problem', many women develop addictions to gambling.  We are proud to have had three inspirational women in recovery on The Problem Gambling Podcast, so far and would love to hear from more women who want to share their recovery stories.   This short clip from our interview with Stacey Goodwin, hits the nail on the head, regarding one of the most common fallacies which drives gambling addiction - the dream that a 'big win' will solve everything.   If you want to talk to someone in confidence, about your ..read more

​On the 26th of April, this year, Extern Problem Gambling were proud to launch the ‘Hidden Problem’ campaign with the support of campaign ambassadors Oisín McConville and Niall McNamee.  We were in a position to begin providing a free helpline and online counselling service to anyone on the island of Ireland.  Backed by a large-scale awareness raising media campaign, we were inundated with calls and emails from people seeking help for themselves or for loved ones.  In the first 3 months since the campaign launched, we have delivered: 149 Helpline interactions 355 counselling h ..read more

Most of the people who contact our service are interested in one thing: stopping gambling completely.  The vast majority of people we work with have made numerous attempts to quit gambling and, unfortunately, relapsed.  So, just like you, they have realised that they cannot gamble in a moderate or recreational way.  Having an unhealthy/addictive relationship with gambling is not a problem - as long as you don't gamble.  The real problem is repeatedly convincing yourself that you can gamble safely - when you have so much lived experience evidence to the contrary.  Many ..read more

One of the biggest issues with problem gambling (Gambling Disorder/Compulsive Gambling/Pathological Gambling/Gambling Addiction) - apart from the fact that it clearly has way too many names - is the lack of understanding that exists about how a person can become addicted to a behaviour in the first place.  Because there is no addictive substance, like alcohol or nicotine, involved - most people believe that stopping gambling should be as easy as steering clear of the Betting Shop or deleting a gambling app from your phone.  The reality is that it's far more challenging and complicate ..read more

Barry Grant:  As a person working for an NGO, which advocates for safeguarding measures to be put in place to protect vulnerable adults and children from gambling related harm, I sometimes get the occasional snarky comment directed my way.  It's often something along the lines of, 'Won't somebody please think of the children?!' - a much-used quote from the Simpsons.  I respect everyone's opinions on these matters and I'm more than happy to debate my side of the street with anyone who is so inclined.  I'm very comfortable with my pearl-clutching, bleeding-heartedness - as I ..read more

7 years ago, today, on the 15th of July 2013, the Heads of the Gambling Control Bill were published by the Fine Gael-lead government.  The Heads of Bill outline a progressive piece of legislation, which has the potential to put in place fit-for-purpose legislation and regulation of gambling in Ireland, as well as creating a 'Social Fund', which would provide financial supports for problem gambling treatment, prevention, education and research.  It saddens me greatly that we are here, 7 years later, with no enactment of the Bill and no Gambling Regulatory Authority in place. &nb ..read more

Today, I wrote to the members of the Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Green Party negotiating teams, to ask that they ensure that Gambling Regulation is part of the new Programme for Government.   "I am writing to you, as a member of [your party's] negotiating team, to ask that you and your colleagues please ensure that the establishment of a Gambling Regulatory Authority is part of the new Programme for Government.     Both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have committed to this in their manifestos.  A Gambling Regulatory Authority would be self-financing, through licence fe ..read more

In this episode of the podcast, we look at the starting point for anyone wishing to stop gambling.  We cover the key areas of Access (self-exclusion), Time (what to do with your free time and to distract yourself from thoughts about gambling) and Money management.  We discuss the challenges that come up for our counselling clients, as well as the advantages to having this control measures in place.  The podcast is also available on Spotify and Google Podcasts.   ..read more

Episode 1 of a new podcast, aiming to explore a wide variety of topics, surrounding problem gambling and gambling related harm.  Presented by Tony O'Reilly and Barry Grant, this is an awareness raising project of registered charities, Problem Gambling Ireland and Extern.  Barry Grant is an addiction counsellor and the founder of Problem Gambling Ireland.  Tony O'Reilly is an addiction counsellor,  author and expert by experience.  In this first episode we discuss Tony's lived experience of addiction and recovery.   If you would like to send us any questions or ide ..read more