Monthly Newsletter

The government’s plans to double betting tax on Irish bookmakers in May were repealed at the eleventh hour. The Irish Finance Bill 2009, as amended by the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service, included phrasing to rescind the proposed hike.

The hike, which would have increased the betting duty to 2% from 1% under Section 67(1) of the Finance Act 2002, will remain at 1% and will be ‘deferred indefinitely’, having never been enacted nor entered into effect.

Upon review of the sector, the government noted that doubling the tax would only add additional burden on betting companies and provide nominal increases in tax receipts. Instead the Department of Finance is to discuss with the sector, how to increase the tax base in a ‘fair and workable’ manner. One area in particular which it noted was the possibility of enforcing taxation on online and phone betting, which currently provides little revenue.