Bookies get betting tax relief in Ireland

The Minister for Finance from Ireland has introduced relief from betting duty of €50k per year for local bookies.

Ireland.- Ireland introduced on Wednesday a new measure that will see relief from betting duty of €50k a calendar year for local bookies. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe says that this initiative will help small independent bookmakers in Ireland.

The measure establishes that bookmakers in the country won’t be subject to pay taxes on the first €50k in bets that they take in a year, Irish Times reported. Donohoe said that this was subject to EU state aid rules.

While the aid increases to €50k, the tax strategy group from the department had suggested €2 million a year to help those bookmakers compete against the leading operators like Ladbrokes or Paddy Power.

Moreover, it seems like this is a counter-attack to the increase in betting taxes that Donohoe himself had introduced last year. Betting tax rose to 2% from 1%, which will yield around €95 million in 2019.

“I believe it is timely to increase the tax from 1% to 2% on amounts wagered in the state,” he had said in 2018. “In addition, betting duty on the commissions earned by intermediaries, or exchanges, will increase from 15% to 25%. These increase will take effect on January 1st and will generate an additional €40 million in 2019 and €52 million in a full year.”