Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), Ireland’s horse racing governing body, submitted a petition to the Department of Finance, for a 1.5% tax increase on the betting sector.
Currently the rate of duty for the bookmakers’ sales is 1% with HRI demanding a rise up to 2.5%.
As expected, betting sites in Ireland have already voiced their disagreement with the upcoming revision in the legislation.
On the other hand, the President of HRI, Brian Kavanagh told that this change on the tax would be beneficial for the general public. He stated that although betting turnover in 2016 was over €5bn, only €51m was collected in duty. This amount is technically five times lower than the 2001 turnover, which was €1.1bn with €68m having been collected through the tax.
He added to this: “While the betting market has increased almost five times between 2001 and 2016, the yield to the exchequer from duty has actually fallen”.
Mr Kavanagh also recommended that the commission on gross gaming profits should be increased from 15% to 37.5%.