Brian Lenihan, the Minister of Finance for Ireland, has stated that online and telephone betting will remain tax-free as other sports betting venues will have taxes raised slightly. The online and telephone betting services could see taxes in the future but for the Government of Ireland needs more time to study the betting industry and decide on the best move.

The Minister stated that land based licensed bookmakers will see a double in taxes to two percent on turnover from the first of the year. Profits have went down at land based betting facilities in Ireland over the past few years while online betting has grown.

The Government of Ireland is looking to create some tax from the online and telephone betting market because it is growing at such a rapid rate. The Government has tried before to tax online betting but ran into issues when bookmakers moved to Gibraltar to operate under their tax laws.

It has also been reported that United Kingdom bookmakers who have land based shops could also see a tax increase as well. It is believed that gambling machines may be the main issue in the UK as they have helped increase profits for bookmakers.



- 2008-11-24