Irish remote betting tax sent for EC scrutiny
Bill which sets out a 1% revenue tax on Ireland-facing operators should be enacted by end of 2014
Ireland’s new remote betting tax should be in place by the end of this year after the country’s government sent its final version of the Betting (Amendment) Bill to the European Commission (EC) for scrutiny.
The legislation received its final reading in the Irish parliament last week and has now been deferred to the EC, which will be given roughly three months to ensure it is compliant with European law and broader principles.
The Bill, which sets out the government’s intention to licence and tax all online bookmakers and betting exchanges that transact with Ireland-based customers, was first mooted in 2011.
Should the EC give the green light to the Bill, remote operators will have to give up 1% of their Ireland-derived revenues while online betting exchanges will be subject to a tax of 15% of Ireland-based commission charges.
The online betting market in Ireland is said to be worth around 1.6bn a year with the government expected to gain around 16m in tax revenues per annum from the new regime.
The responsibility to police the tax regime has fallen on the shoulders of the Revenue Commissioners, a late change to the Bill after the Department for Justice (DoJ) was judged to have inefficient resources to handle the enforcement.
The land-based industry had hoped the new Bill would be in place before the start of the parliamentary summer recess on 24 July, with the Bill also carrying a provision for longer shop opening hours.
However, Joe Kelly, gaming lawyer and partner at A&L Goodbody, told eGaming Review the involvement of the EC would likely delay implementation until later in the year.
“If the three-month scrutiny period for the EC is respected that takes us through to September, so it will have to be before the end of the year before the Bill would be able to make it through parliament,” Kelly said.
The country is also preparing a wider piece of gambling legislation which will see the formation of a dedicated gambling regulator located within the DoJ, along with a stronger regulatory framework aimed at better protecting consumers and reducing the threat of gambling-related crime.
A draft of the Gambling Control Bill is expected to be published early next year, however, is unlikely to be enacted before 2016.