Irish Government Hits The Pause Button On New Gambling Tax Hike (Update)

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Nov 30, 2018

Surely the impact of a doubling of the tax rate to 2 percent ought to have been taken into account earlier than this?

Irish betting companies received a reprieve, albeit temporary, late Thursday when minister of finance Paschal Donohoe announced that the government’s plan to increase betting tax from 1 percent to 2 percent of turnover has been placed on hold pending a review of its impact.

InfoPowa readers will recall recent protests particularly among independent bookmakers that the doubling of the tax will cut into already thin margins and could lead to betting shop closures and the loss of jobs.

Donohoe said the plan is now to delay the implementation of the new tax (originally set for January 1 next year) until the tax impact review has been completed, probably some time in the first quarter.

The Irish Times reported that the Irish Bookmakers Association (IBA) has persuaded a number of parliamentarians to propose alternative and more reasonable gambling tax arrangements as the long-running debate continues.

Brian Cullingworth

Infopowa news was a staple of Casinomeister’s news from 2000 until 2019. Brian Cullingworth was the main writer, contributor, and was one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever known involved in the online casino industry.

We first met in January 2001 at the ICE in London where I observed him going booth to booth interviewing online casino, software, and licensing jurisdiction representatives. Brian was also heavily involved with our forum as “Jetset“, he was involved as an informal consultant to eCOGRA, the OPA, and was a player advocate who assisted countless aggrieved players with his connections to industry folks. He also published “Casino Cautions” via Infopowa news for quite a number of years. These can be found in our news archives.

His passing in February 2019 was a dark day for us. He will be forever missed.


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