Reduction of betting tax in Ireland?

A proposal to raise the betting tax of the Irish Ministry of Finance arouses the minds of the bookmakers. The idea comes from a tax committee of the ministry and has triggered anything but enthusiasm among the Irish sports betting providers, after all, the betting tax has already been raised several times. The Irish Bookmaker Association (IBA) also criticized the considerations and pointed out that an increase in tax for many bookmakers means a massive additional economic burden and thereby threatens the ruin.

Tax exemption should help

Like in the publicly visible documents can be seen on the website of the Irish Ministry of Finance, the tax committee is planning a Raising the betting tax from the previous 2 percent to 2.25 percent. If you raise the increase to one year, the state benefits from a tax increase of around eleven million $ from the sports betting industry. However, in order to reduce the financial burdens for the small operators, the tax exemption should be increased from currently 50,000 $ to EUR 65,000 if the betting tax increases. Bookmakers who remain under this border would not be affected by the collection of betting tax.

Nevertheless, the increase in betting tax for many bookmakers will mean a massive additional financial burden. This could make various operators economic end threaten. For this reason, the IBA also warns of a renewed increase in betting tax. In order to clarify the dramatic situation, the IBA has already submitted a financial report to the Ministry of Finance. According to its chairman Sharon Byrne, this was commissioned by the IBA from Dublin City University.

This is the Irish bookmaker Association IBA. The Irish bookmaker’s association, in the original Irish Bookmaker Association (IBA), was founded in 2005 and is considered the largest representative of the sports betting industry in Ireland. More than 750 of the 814 betting agencies in Ireland belong to the IBA. The IBA has a broad number of members, since on the one hand it represents the interests of large retail companies, but on the other hand also represents that of independent operators of betting agencies.

The report should simulate the economic effects and potential sales losses by increasing betting tax. With the financial report, the IBA also addressed a direct request to the government that Increase in betting tax. The height is neither fair nor sustainable for the sports betting industry. The increase in the tax allowance is also only a drop on the hot stone, since only a very small proportion of bookmakers fall into this area. Almost all bookmakers with the tax rate of 2 percent would already have to struggle.

Fewer and fewer bookmakers on the market

At the beginning of last year on January 1st, 2019, betting tax was already doubled from 1 percent to 2 percent. According to the IBA, the direct result of this increase had to be round 50 bookmakers in Ireland close their doors forever. At the same time, around 300 jobs were lost at the same time. In a Graphics on the official website of the IBA is to see the continuous increase in betting agencies that had to register bankruptcy due to economic difficulties. In the past twelve years alone, the number of betting agencies from 1,385 in 2008 dropped to 813 at the end of 2019.

The betting tax certainly contributes to this. However, the industry is also becoming increasingly difficult for the industry to compete on the Internet. Here, partly unlicensed online sports betting providers are becoming increasingly wider and adapting customers. This results in a dangerous mix for the land -based betting shops. On the one hand, the providers on the Internet can offer more products faster and accommodate the customer, on the other hand they differ from the IBA’s point of view excessive betting tax.

In the same way, the IBA criticizes the archaic case law, which means that the betting shops cannot fall back on any modern sports betting technologies. As a result, the betting shops are clearly at a disadvantage compared to the online competition. The government must therefore, if it wants to save the bookmaker industry, take saving measures. Above all, this includes the farewell of the gambling law that has been in the suspension for years. Only in this way did the betting agencies get the opportunity to defend themselves from the Internet, among other things, through modernization measures. Of course, the increase in betting tax must of course be dispensed with.