Back in 2014, it became clear that the taxes, related to online gambling activities on the territory of Ireland will be reviewed and eventually increased in 2015.
Yesterday, the proposal for a tax increase has been submitted to the Irish authorities for approval and the President was supposed to sign it and therefore, make it a valid law. That was the information revealed by Michael Noonan, the Finance Minister of Ireland. His announcement shed light on regulators’ intentions to increase the taxes within the next couple of months.
Actually, the tax increase comes at a time when the most popular UK and Irish bookmakers such as Paddy Power and William Hill are trying to adapt to the new requirements imposed with the so called Point of Consumption tax.
In point of fact, the question about the tax increase of the online operators has been on the agenda for four years but for one reason or another Irish gambling regulators kept postponing its implementation.
However, the new levy will be imposed as soon as all operators that are currently licensed in another jurisdiction succeed in obtaining all necessary approvals allowing them to become available on the Irish gambling market.
A representative of the finance department was reached for a comment and said that all operators willing to provide their services on the territory of Ireland will be supposed to pay the new taxes from the middle of 2015 onwards.
All operators that target the Irish players will be supposed to pay a tax equal to 1% of their betting turnover along with retail betting taxes. Yet, some exemptions apply. Betfair as well as Betdaq will have to pay taxes accounting for 15% of the profits they generate through betting activities.
Those operators that provide wagering options for mobile and telephone devices will not be excluded, though. They will also have to pay the respective taxes.
As already mentioned, major bookmakers are discontent with the attempts of Irish gambling regulators to increase the levy. Representatives of Paddy Power announced that last year, the tax would have cost them the sum of €8 million.
Cormac McCarthy, the Chief Financial Officer of Paddy Power, was asked to comment on the matter during a news conference held on Wednesday. Mr. McCarthy said that according to him, a balance could be reached and added that “the big increases we think are set for a while”.
