Ryanair: No ETA for In-Flight Gambling

Despite numerous reports that Dublin-based discount airline Ryanair will launch an in-flight virtual casino, the company has no firm plans for doing so, and its head of communications wants to set the record straight.

"We're looking at possibilities," Peter Sherrard explained, "but we have no immediate plans."

Sherrard said that an article in Dublin's Sunday Business Post, stating that the airline is "set to launch an online casino that will operate in tandem with a new in-flight entertainment service," was misinformed and this led to another incorrect article in the United Kingdom. Numerous publications, he said, picked up on it from there.

He acknowledged that Ryanair has considered an in-flight casino, but that there is no such project underway and that there won't be anything of this sort in the foreseeable future.

A much more likely scenario, he said, would be to launch an online casino at the company's Web site with the hopes of generating more revenue from customers accessing the site to buy tickets and other products and services such as vacation planning, ski vacations, credit cards and travel insurance.

"We are constantly looking for other sources of revenue," Sherrard said. "We had a $1.3 billion turnover last year from auxiliary sources alone."

And while Ryanair won't be featuring an in-flight casino anytime soon, you can purchase scratch cards on the airline's flights--an offering that Sherrard said has been successful.