Largest Irish bookmaker could move to Malta because of tax cuts

Stuart Kenny, managing director of the Republic of Ireland’s largest bookmakers, Paddy Power, announced that his company is planning to shift its entire Internet betting operation and possibly its telephone betting arm to Malta if there are no further tax cuts by the Irish Government in the December budget. The company was awarded a betting licence in the low tax jurisdiction (Malta) last week, he added.

The Irish Times reports that Irish punters spent 35 per cent more on betting in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 1999 and total expenditure on gambling could reach the £1 billion (LM 0.65 billion, Euro 1.27 billion) mark for the year as a whole, the latest figures show. The newspaper quotes a Revenue source said a combination of the booming economy, the growth in different forms of gambling and a cut in the rate of tax had spurred dramatic growth. However several Irish betting companies have chosen to go on-line and relocate to Malta, attracted by financial incentives. These include O'Halloran and Paddy Power.

Although the Irish government last year cut betting duty to 5 per cent from 10 per cent, Stuart Kenny still believes that further reductions in duty were required to prevent offshore bookmakers based in low tax regimes from poaching business from domestic bookies. The newspaper says that it is understood the Irish Department of Finance is currently undertaking a full review of the betting industry in light of the threat posed by offshore betting. Bookmakers are lobbying for a cut in tax to under 1 per cent to offset the threat. That would undermine proposals to fund a merged Irish Horseracing Authority and Turf Club to run racing from collected betting taxes, the newspaper said.

The Maltese government has succeeded in attracting over 15 foreign on-line betting and gambling companies to relocate their operations to Malta and benefit from tax cuts and other financial incentives. The Maltese government estimates this will bring him millions or liri in annual revenue. (MM) [Tue 10/10/00 - 00:49:52 CET]