Rise in Republic’s betting tax ‘will wipe out 90% of independent bookmakers’

ONE of Ireland’s biggest independent bookies, Tully Bookmakers, has warned it is likely to close up to 18 shops once the increased betting tax announced in last month’s Irish budget comes into force.

Director Paul Tully said that he expects to put all 70 staff at the chain on protective notice after Christmas, and to initiate the first closures in January.

He has written to the Republic’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission claiming that the tax increase will result in a lessening of competition in the betting sector. He has asked the Commission to raise the matter with the Department of Finance, led by Paschal Donohoe.

The betting duty will rise from 1% to 2%, but Mr Tully said he and other independents operate on wafer-thin margins, which will be obliterated by the increase. The betting tax is levied on turnover, while bookmakers have been arguing for a 10% gross profit tax on retail operations instead.

Tax increase: Paschal Donohoe

Mr Tully said that while some of his group’s outlets might continue operating until after the Cheltenham racing festival next March, the likelihood at the moment is that stores will close.

He said that the gross margin is 11% for Tully Bookmakers, but that its net profit margin is less than 1%.

“With the extra 1% of tax, it’s going to make us totally unviable. This will wipe out 90% of the independents,” he said.

Mr Tully’s father started the bookmaking business in 1975 in Co Meath.