Fine Gael Government Follows English Example of Betting Tax Review

December 12, 2011

The Fine Gael Government of Ireland has stated that it is planning to begin applying betting tax legislation to offshore and online betting sites. It is estimated that this new method of tackling the problem of collecting betting tax is likely to net in excess of more than €20,000,000 a year in additional tax revenue.

Michael Noonan, the Finance Minister, has proposed that a 15% tax be applied to offshore betting site owners, with an additional 1% betting tax on online betting. It has been stated that the preparations for implementing this new level of taxation are in the advanced stages, and that the tax will encompass not only remote betting sites, but also betting exchanges.

Michael Noonan has stated that the new tax legislation is intended to close a loophole. Current betting legislation only taxes Irish gamblers when they place bets locally, in physical betting shops. The new betting tax laws will capture offshore, online betting sites in its net.

Back in 1991, statistics showed that total national betting turnover was in the region of €370,000. Fast forward a decade, taking a look at last year’s statistics, and we find that national betting turnover is three times higher, topping out somewhere around €1,100,000,000. However, this is a false figure, as currently remote betting is not part of this total. If online and telephone betting were included, the true figure would be in the region of €4,500,000,000. This means that the Irish Government is missing out on taxing over three billion Euros of turnover. So we can clearly see why they are making these changes.

With technological advances making online betting quicker, easier and cheaper, it can be seen as the writing on the wall that the Irish Government is now changing betting tax legislation. We can clearly see that there are vast sums of revenue which currently fall through this tax loophole. Even though the new betting tax legislation does not directly affect the pockets of Irish Gamblers, the increased cost of operation placed upon offshore online providers will need to be offset in some way. Ultimately, it is the man in the street that will need to cough up the cash to pay these new taxes.

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