JAMES Browne, Minister for State at the Department of Justice, says he intends to propose “a number of amendments” to the Gambling Regulation Bill during the Report Stage “to provide clarification to the advertising provisions and related matters”.

This gives a ray of hope to those campaigning for an exemption to be made, in the case of the dedicated horse racing channels, regarding the ban on gambling advertising during daylight hours on television.

The Bill included the introduction of a pre-watershed ban on gambling advertising on television, radio and on audio-visual media services between the hours of 5.30am and 9pm, with a focus on protecting children from the widespread proliferation of gambling advertising across these forms of media.

Ironically, the Bill will not apply to advertising on social media, which is by far the most likely domain where children are exposed to advertising.

However, the advertising ban threatens to force both Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing off air in Ireland. Both channels - produced in Britain - feature betting company adverts and the broadcasters say it would be commercially unviable to produce an advert-free version for a limited number of Irish viewers.

According to the Oireachtas website, the Bill is currently at stage four of a five-stage process before it leaves Dáil Éireann, moves through Seanad Éireann and is signed into law.