Despite resisting lobbying from gambling firms when it came to raising tax on betting, the government will not be reinvesting money from the extra €50 million raised into problem gambling services.
File photo. Image: Shutterstock/KieferPix File photo. Image: Shutterstock/KieferPix DESPITE RESISTING LOBBYING from gambling firms when it came to raising tax on betting, the government will not be reinvesting money from the extra €50 million raised into problem gambling services.
It had fallen from 2% to 1% back in 2006, with the latest measure reversing that. Under the 1% rate, the government collected just over €50 million a year, with this expected to double to €100 million with the rate increase. “However, I could not apply the increase in betting duty to some bookmakers and not others,” he said. “In any discussion on betting duty, we must acknowledge the raised public consciousness of the problem of gambling in society.
In a letter sent to Donohoe prior to Budget 2019, Paddy Power Betfair CEO Peter Jackson said that the effect on jobs of any further taxation on the industry would be “particularly pronounced in the independent sector”. This budgetary move does give the impression that Ireland is less interested in companies like PPB than it is in foreign investment. I hope you can facilitate a meeting at some stage in the coming days. A spokesperson at the department said that no such meeting took place.
The Irish Bookmakers Association also said the move would “reduce competition, force customers to bet with online operators, and force customers to bet with illegal operations in areas where there is no betting shop”. Since 2015, the HSE’s stats show that over 800 people have been treated for gambling addiction but it admits its own figures don’t paint an accurate picture of the scale of gambling addiction in Ireland.
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