Sunday Mirror: Kids can't buy a Lotto ticket or enter a bookies but they can bet at

AN IRISH solicitor may make legal history when he takes an action against the State on behalf of people who claim LEGAL underage gambling ruined their lives.

Mark Keller, a Waterford-based solicitor, is taking the case for an undisclosed number of people who claim that gambling at the Tote on race tracks led them to develop a gambling addiction.

Mr Keller spoke out on Waterford Local Radio about this form of legal underage gambling.

"Children are prohibited by law from buying a Lotto ticket, betting in a bookie's office or from doing various other things that are inappropriate," he said.

"But there is no restriction on them going to a race meeting or a greyhound track and placing a bet on the Tote."

Mr Keller said he represented a considerable number of people whose lives have been effected by this.

He added: "I can't go into this in any great detail but there would certainly a lot of people whose lives have really been ruined and who cannot shake off this gambling addiction.

"Any time money comes available, the first thought that comes to them is gambling as opposed to using the money prudently for their family.

"There's no reason why legislation which has been apparently promised in the past cannont be implemented."

Racing insiders say the case could cost the State millions. One source told the Irish Sunday Mirror: "If this could be upheld then it would be as big as proving tobacco companies were responsible for lung cancer."

Experts say that many gamblers have found that it was simple thrill of placing a small bet which set off their addiction and this soon escalated to serious proportions.

A leading authority on gambling addiction, Professor Jim Orford, of the University of Birmingham, said that one of the features of gambling addiction, compared with other habits, was the fact there is no direct health impact on the addict.

"The gambling addict tends to be able to continue in secret for longer, whereas the drug user will sooner or later become ill and need to go to hospital," he said.

"The gambler finds it easier to ignore the problems and they can continue with their habit much more privately, while they are simultaneously ruining their marriages and careers."

Now new research has been unveiled which claims gambling may be as physically addictive as smoking, drinking and taking drugs.

A team of German scientists based their findings on a study of hormone levels in men playing blackjack.

Gerhard Meyer and colleagues at the University of Bremen recruited 10 gamblers from a casino and asked them to play blackjack, staking their own money and playing for points.

They found a direct rise in the level of hormones associated with addicts in 50 per cent of those who wanted to keep gambling after the money given to them by researchers for the experiment had run out.