Irish Luck for Online Casinos
Published November 29, 2008 by OCR Editor
Irish online casinos remain tax exempt while betting shops face a tax increase.
In exciting news for online casinos operating out of Ireland, the finance ministry has delayed imposing any taxes on online gambling.
Exempt
They say it's the luck of the Irish and they aren't wrong -
online casinos operating in Irish cyberspace will not have any taxes imposed
upon them. This has come as welcome news to Ireland's online gambling
community.
There were valid concerns that taxes would be imposed on the online gambling industry especially since there was a 1% increase in taxes on betting shops - from 1pc to 2pc. Luckily for Irish gambling operators, the tax exemption includes all telephonic bets too.
The Irish Minister of Finance, Brian Lenihan, stated that the ministry requires additional time to examine the industry. If and when the time is right, they will consider imposing taxes.
Implications
Any indication that online casinos will be taxed will be met
in equal measure by an exodus from Ireland of many operators. For now it's
tax-free central and everyone is happy about it.
