How Ireland’s EU Council presidency can solve Europe’s sports betting addiction

By David Stephen, who looks at betting addiction in this article. 

If sport betting and gambling addiction are going to become an enduring feature in society, what are broader ways to ensure that players are better protected from contiguous and ruinous losses?

If the evolution of loving sports in the era of the internet now has to reach prediction markets, and intense problem gambling, how much do people need to know to keep themselves protected amid exposure to risks?

Sports betting addiction and Ireland’s EU Council presidency

The explosion of sports betting and gambling addiction means that while regulatory systems may suffice for those operating within a jurisdiction, there are several possibilities for access beyond what some authorities can monitor, making it necessary seek a mind umbrella for protection for users.

Simply, there are two directions to protect players, technical and mind. Technical is the general approach of friction, where there are barriers, restrictions within the app on how to ensure that there are time limits, amount limits, and so forth, to keep players from harm.

However, because it is digital, it is easy to bypass the technical levee, since there are different apps, there are even those from other jurisdictions without as much policy discipline.

This makes the second option, mind safety necessary, which is the most important part exceeding technical safety. It is basically about displaying a parallel of the mind, before, during and after a gambling session.

This means that what goes on in the mind, that makes gambling seem addictive, from memory to emotions and feelings, a dynamic flow chart can be developed, to follow some of the parameters available from a game in real-time, then make it possible to let people know what is happening in the mind, especially for proximity to risks and so forth.

Then, it is possible to present an addictiveness score at the end of each session. This implies the possibility to follow the mind and ensure there is a way to stiffen intent as way to effect gaming discipline, so users can stay within a safety range.

This is what Taoiseach Micheál Martin can champion in to make a major difference in the EU and beyond even as problem gambling sprawls.

There is a recent [July 1, 2026] analysis on Euronews, Five pressing tasks for Ireland as it takes over EU Council presidency, stating that, “Ireland has kicked off its six-month presidency of the EU Council. From accession to the budget, here are the five most pressing tasks. It marks the eighth time that the nation of 5.4 million people which joined the bloc in 1972, has assumed the unenviable role of “honest broker””.

“Under the Gaelic slogan of “Ní neart go cur le chéile” (“Strength with unity”), Ireland will steer negotiations among the other 26 member states and craft delicate, sometimes fragile, compromises that can satisfy all the disparate voices in the room.”

“With several files nearing an inflexion point, Dublin has its work cut out.”

“Pressure on Moscow. Road to enlargement. Budget crunch. Tariff threats and tariff wars. One market for all.”

While there are lots of differences that Ireland would make, one of the palpable solutions will be to solve problem gambling by introducing a mind safety display.

This means that people can see what goes on in the mind, just to ensure they have a better sense of how to minimize the sweep, on the mind against losses.

In summary, it is possible that by July 15, 2026, Ireland — through some university labs and private sector teams — can setup a framework for a mind safety approach to solving problem gambling, so that there is a better information symmetry about the mind from conceptual brain science against risks.

Some of the details can be formulated from the postulate in Conceptual Biomarkers and Theoretical Biological Factors for Psychiatric and Intelligence Nosology.

David Stephen does research in conceptual brain science and served as a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He did computer vision research at Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona.

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