In the Irish 2011 Budget (7th Dec 2010) – it was announced that Ireland will be applying Betting Duty to Offshore Betting (Online or Telephone )
Betting Duty is currently 1% and only applies to bets placed in betting shops.
The Irish Government now intends to include provisions in the Finance Bill and revise the Betting Act 1931 to ensure that all bookmakers taking bets from Iris customers will pay 1% betting duty
Betting Exchanges will also be subject to a tax under the new arrangements but the calculation of the tax will differ from that applying to bookmakers.
The Government expect to get as much as €20 million a year from this tax.
In Italy – they recently introduced a similar tax on business with Italian customers at between 2% and 5%. The UK is also looking at bringing in similar taxes.