Ireland Considers Levy Bill on Online Gambling

The Irish Cabinet is to consider an important law that will see the 1 percent land betting levy expanded to cover internet gambling activity, hoping this could go into effect before the end of 2013 bringing in an extra Euro17 million to the state coffers. It has always been the government's intention to extend the hitherto land bookie levy to the online environment and today's measure paves the way for the cash-strapped government to finally tax online gambling. If the Betting Amendment Bill passes through the Cabinet, it will be sent to the European Commission for approval, which could take up to three months. If the EC approves, it will go before the Irish Parliament to be voted into law. The Irish state entities that oversee horse and dog racing, Horse Racing Ireland and the Greyhound Board, want the extra cash raised to be allocated to the state-administered Horse and Greyhound Fund, which they partly rely on for finance. According to the government-commissioned report by economic consultants Indecon, last year estimated total betting turnover came to Euro4.365 billion, so extending the tax to online betting would make up the shortfall in grants for the racing bodies which has fallen from Euro61 million in 2008 to Euro44 million this year. Some bookmakers such as Boylesports and Paddy Power have warned that a failure to impose the levy on overseas operators active in the Irish market would put Irish-based firms at a competitive disadvantage. Paddy Power has estimated that the new tax could cost it about Euro6 million a year. Meanwhile, Ladbrokes, the biggest overseas operator in the Irish market, has clearly pointed out it would comply with the law once implemented.