Ireland Parliament

There have been threats made by the Irish parliament minister for sport, Martin Cullen, to ban online casinos and internet gambling. The minister has made a demand to the bookmakers of the online casino industry to give more money to the Exchequer which would benefit the Greyhound Racing Fund and the Horse Racing Fund. The minister wants to wants to cut the pay outs that it is currently giving to those funds by 1.5 million Euro and that would be possible if the bookmakers and online casinos that make money off of those particular sporting events would be forced to donate money to the industry that keeps their business afloat. This is not a surprising move especially when one takes a look at the current economic situation of the country of Ireland.

Usually when governments are going to tax any particular activity it is one that is leisure like an online casino or even alcohol. Cullen has expressed that he is sorry that the government funding for the racing funds will end but has made clear that the responsibility now lies on the online casinos that make money off of the horse and greyhound racing industries. He does not want little donations, he wants to see substantial donations made by the internet gambling websites otherwise there may be a change in legislation. Cullen said: "It is not sustainable to continue to support this fund from the Exchequer. The big players will need to come to the plate. A view will need to be formed about Internet and offshore betting. I will use whatever legal levers are available to me to get at that funding in terms of trying to get some tax out of it."

Cullen is predicting that if the online casino industry gives the amount that he has outlined then the levy would produce over 100 million Euro for the Greyhound and Horse Racing Funds. Cullen added, "The reality is that most betting is now offshore. There are choices to be made, and I am making it clear to the industry that we will make those choices. The ultimate choice would be to ban it. That approach has been taken in America and perhaps it will be taken in other countries as well. However, I do not want to go down that road. I believe there is a means of taking action."