AN ORGANISATION representing smaller bookmakers has claimed that up to 300 offices could close with the loss of 1,500 jobs if the Government proceeds with plans to double the betting levy later this year.
The budget of October 2008 proposed that the betting duty rate be increased from 1 per cent to 2 per cent with effect from January 1st, 2009.
However, following representations by the bookmakers’ organisations to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan in the months following the announcement, the Government agreed to postpone its implementation by four months until May 1st.
In a further concession, the Government also allowed betting duty paid by a bookmaker on bets made on or after January 1st, 2009, to be allowed as a deduction in computing the amount of profits or losses for income tax or corporation tax purposes.
The new arrangement will now proceed without further alteration, according to sources in the department.
Terry Rogers, of the Irish Independent Bookmakers Association, has said that dramatic falls in turnover for bookmakers in the last quarter of 2008 and in early 2009 will make the business no longer viable for smaller and medium-sized operators.
“We have told the Government that if the 2 per cent levy goes ahead, there will be 300 closures with the loss of 1,500 jobs.
“For many bookmakers turnover was down around 17 per cent in the last quarter of 2008.
“It was down 30 per cent in January and the picture will not improve in February because of all the cancellations due to bad weather.
“Our main hope now is that the Cheltenham [festival in March] will give us a bit of a kick-start. People have decided to keep their hands in their pockets,” said Mr Rogers.
Mr Rogers accepted that the ability to write off the levy against profits or losses would be of some assistance.
However, he said that smaller and medium-sized bookmakers work on different volumes and margins than the bigger multiples. He also said that online and offshore betting, where tax is minimal or non-existent, was also a contributing factor.
The bookmakers’ association represents smaller and independent bookmakers from businesses with just one shop to smaller chains like the one built up by his father, also Terry Rogers; Mulhollands in Galway; and Cashman’s in Cork.
