Forced closure of betting shops on Easter Sunday ‘economic madness’
The association has also said that the forced closure of betting shops on Easter Sunday is economic madness, and is driving customers away from shops to online betting operators leading to the loss of substantial revenue for the exchequer.
Sharon Byrne, IBA Chairperson, commented: “Easter Sunday is one of the busiest racing and betting days in the calendar. This Sunday meetings will be held at Cork, Fairyhouse, Plumpton, Towcester and Musselburgh. These events will attract thousands of attendees and will also be broadcast on television and radio.
“However, no betting shops will be open this coming Easter Sunday thanks to the archaic and completely out-of-date legislation that governs how betting shops operate. This legislation – the Betting Act 1931 – prohibits betting shops from opening on any Sunday. Given that this Sunday is such a busy day for racing, this situation makes no sense whatsoever.
“This legislation was drafted in a different time and in a different Ireland. Closing betting shops in the past may have prevented betting from taking place, but today it simply drives customers online where there are no time restrictions on placing a bet.
“The consequence of this is that it drives business away from betting shops and the Government consequently loses the tax revenues that would be generated by these shops. And, it’s making a difficult trading situation even worse for many betting shop owners – in the past 18 months 121 betting shops have closed with 605 job losses.
“This is a lose-lose situation – for the Government and for the betting sector. It’s time to address this economic madness, to bring the legislation governing betting up to date, and to allow betting shops to open on a Sunday.”
