Lenihan bows to lobbying on betting tax hike
At least €40 million in revenue will be lost to the state through the budget U-turn – this is more than four times what it would cost to administer the cervical cancer vaccine to teenage girls and would meet half the cost of medical cards for all over 70s.
But bookies warned the minister that the tax would lead to the closure of hundreds of bookmaking shops and the loss of up to 2,000 jobs this year.
