Ireland's online gambling tax nears

Ireland’s plan to extend its tax legislation to include online gambling operators is to move a step closer tomorrow with MPs due to debate the issue in Parliament.

Current tax laws are expected to be amended in order to bring online gambling sites under the same taxation rules of land-based betting outlets and be required to pay a 1% tax on revenues.

However, exchange operators will operate under different rules with a 15% profits levy to be imposed with the Betting Amendment Bill now expected to be implemented as early as March.

The development comes as wider changes to the country’s gambling laws look set to be delayed until late in 2015.

Draft legislation for the Gambling Control Bill, which will repeal all current laws and for the first time install a framework which will legislate for all forms of gambling bar the national lottery, was expected to be published before the summer of 2014.

However, David Hickson, director at The Gaming & Leisure Association of Ireland, told eGaming Review that the publication of the draft could still be some 12 months away due to volume of work currently going through Parliament.

“The Attorney General’s department is very busy – we have a very productive Minister for Justice that is churning out a phenomenal amount of legislation so they are under a bit of pressure,” Hickson said.

“The government is heading into its last two year stretch and its priorities are shifting a little bit so we’ll just have to wait and see,” he added.

Once published, the Bill is expected to face little in the way of opposition and could be enacted by the end of 2015.

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