Online betting operator supports proposed levy

ONLINE betting and gaming giant Betfair has become the latest bookmaker to move its operating licence from Britain to Gibraltar, to avoid Britain’s high tax rates; but the company has added it is fully supportive of the proposed 2% levy on online operators in Ireland.

The latter should come as welcome news to other operators, particularly Paddy Power, who have welcomed the tax as long as it can be imposed on all players and not just those domiciled in Ireland.

For its part, Betfair — which is moving its overall tax base to Gibraltar in order to avoid Britain’s 15% tax on gross betting profits — said the Irish online tax will be “a positive step”.

“Betfair looks forward to working with the new Government, to ensure a licensing regime for online gambling is introduced so we can be regulated and contribute to the Irish economy in a fair and sustainable manner,” a spokesperson said.

“We believe that the proposals for the taxation of betting exchanges in the Finance Bill 2011 are a positive step,” they added.

It is hoped that the Exchequer coffers will be boosted by around €20m per annum on the back of the tax on the online earnings from bookmakers operating in the Irish market.

Meanwhile, Betfair’s new Dublin-based data centre — which the company announced last year, with the creation of 100 new jobs — officially opens this week.

The company also published its latest trading update yesterday, covering the three months to the end of January, or the third quarter of its fiscal year.

In it, management said that overall revenue was up by 6.2% — year-on-year — at £77m (€89.5m) and that a good start has been made to the final quarter of its year.