Madam, – The article “Betting levy would oblige punters to hand over 2 per cent of profits on winnings” (Home News, September 24th), outlined that Government sources have indicated the proposed extra taxation on gambling which may be introduced in the budget would go to central funds directly, without a guarantee that any allocation of the additional revenue raised would be ringfenced for any sports industry here.
However, a concern arises that such taxation would involve introducing a new negatively redistributive measure given the typically high concentration of bookmakers in less affluent areas. While betting offices are subject to payment of rates, if more taxation is to be introduced, it should instead be collected by the relevant local councils directly and specifically allocated to community development projects. Indeed, it should be noted that such schemes do receive assistance from the National Lottery in the same vein.
I think also that the argument from the bookmaking industry that new taxation would devastate the industry has been largely exaggerated. The former minister for finance, Charlie McCreevy, initiated moves to first reduce off-course betting tax excise duty from 10 per cent to 5 per cent in 1999 and then 5 per cent to 2 per cent in 2002. The rate was further reduced to 1 per cent in 2006. It had been 20 per cent in 1985.
Notwithstanding comparison with the UK, these businesses enjoy extremely generous taxation conditions within an Irish industry context – which, given the nature of the activity involved, they should not warrant. If an exodus to online gambling caused by new taxation is anticipated, then IP address checking to determine the source country of a given bet could be introduced to counter this. – Yours, etc,