Ireland may raise betting tax in the 2027 budget, with online and retail operators both in scope

Irish betting operators are warning that the government could raise the current 2 per cent tax on customer stakes from next year, on top of the previously announced plan to double pool betting duty from 1 to 2 per cent. For licensed PSPs and merchants serving gambling clients, the point is simple: a higher turnover-style tax tends to squeeze margins, pricing, and shop economics at the same time.

1. The government is reportedly considering a rise in gambling tax as part of Ireland’s 2027 budget, which includes €7bn in public spending and €1.5bn in tax reductions. The proposed increase would apply to the current 2 per cent tax on customer stakes, and would sit alongside the earlier plan to increase pool betting duty from 1 to 2 per cent.
2. According to Irish media, the rise would apply to both online and retail betting. That matters because turnover taxes do not just hit shop counters; they also hit digital operators, where pricing and customer retention are already tightly connected to margin.
3. The Irish Bookmakers Association has pushed back hard. As reported by Racing Post, the trade body says higher duties would lead to more betting shop closures, job losses, and more illegal activity. It points to the 2019 increase in betting duty from 1 per cent to 2 per cent, which it says resulted in 222 shop closures and “roughly 1,000 retail jobs” lost.
4. In a submission to Finance Minister Simon Harris, the IBA said: “Every euro of additional cost on a licensed operator has to be recovered somewhere, usually through reduced odds and reduced value for customers. Unlicensed operators recover nothing, because they pay no duty, no levy and no compliance cost, and they offer none of the consumer protections that licensed operators are required to provide.” That is the usual tax story in this sector: licensed operators absorb the pressure first, then try to pass it through somewhere.
5. The closures question is not entirely clean, though. The article notes that betting shop losses also reflect the broader shift from retail to online betting seen in other jurisdictions. Entain has already announced plans to close a third of Ladbrokes betting shops in Ireland, and Flutter is considering up to 100 Paddy Power closures across the UK and Ireland.

Anthony Kaminskas, founder of Dublin-based AK BETS, described the current turnover tax as “already punitive” and said a further increase would leave regulated operators with three options: drop sports betting and focus on casino products, offer “awful prices” on sports bets, or impose “a tax on their bets” such as a €100 stake costing €105. Separately, the Irish Times reported that Stewart Kenny, co-founder of Paddy Power, has called for a 40 per cent tax on online betting and casino revenue in Ireland.