Bookies: Hike will cause closures

MEMBERS of the Irish Bookmakers’ Association (IBA) are planning to aggressively lobby the Government to dramatically change the terms of its betting €40 million duty hike, in a bid to avoid widespread business closures and job losses in the industry.

The move by Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan in last week’s Budget, to increase the betting duty rate payable by bookmakers — basically, the tax they pay on the amounts of money bet by punters in their shops — from 1% to 2% is seen as a death knell for many independent bookies.

The IBA has already said that 200 independent businesses are in danger of going to the wall.