Ireland Will Soon Tax Online Casino Operators

Ireland is now set to tax all forms of online betting within the country. They will tax
all foreign online casino operators that want to offer services to Irish citizens. Basically,
it will come down to a tax on advertising within the country. If a gambling operator wants to
advertise to Irish citizens, then they will need to pay tax to promote their services in Ireland.

Offshore casino operators will be required to obtain a license to offer gaming services within
Ireland. RIght now, offshore operators do not need to pay any taxes or obtain any licensing to
offer their gambling services to Irish citizens. Paddy Power, a popular online betting operator,
has suggested that this new taxing opportunity is doomed to fail because Irish citizens will
continue to play at online casinos that have not acquired a gaming license.

While this may seem like a good idea for countries to tax the online casino industry, there
would need to be laws in place to prevent locals from playing at offshore sites without a
license. Another problem is that the Irish government cannot stop offshore operators from
accepting new Irish players that find the sites over the Internet and decide to deposit.