SPORTS MINISTER CATHERINE Martin asked for an increase in the betting tax levy from 2 per cent to 3 per cent in next year’s budget – but her proposal was rejected by her counterpart in the Department of Finance for the second year running.

The Green Party representative wrote to Finance Minister Michael McGrath in August to outline numerous requests for her department in Budget 2024, which was unveiled to the public last week.

Among her requests was a 50% hike in Betting Duty, which would raise the 2 per cent levy that is currently applied to all bets made in Ireland to 3 per cent.

In her letter to McGrath, released to The Journal under the Freedom of Information Act, Martin proposed that the increase could allow for the additional funding of large-scale sports infrastructure, such as stadiums, centres of excellence and sporting facilities.

“The current 2% levy generated receipts of almost €90m in 2020,” she said.

“It is reasonable to assume that an increase to 3% could yield an additional €40m providing long-term funding certainty that would allow sustained investment in projects that provide sport and community benefits.”

She said the extra money raised could enable the construction of multi-use sports facilities in towns above a certain size, long-term investment in maintaining current sports facilities and the development of new facilities “to fill specific gaps”.

She further suggested that the additional funds could lead to investment in the Sport Ireland campus in Abbotstown in Dublin, specifically naming the National Velodrome, which is expected to cost in the region of €90 million.

However, Betting Duty remained at 2 per cent when Budget 2024 was announced last week.

A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said that Betting Duty receipts go directly into general Exchequer funds rather than being ring-fenced for specific projects and that funding for large-scale infrastructure is decided by other departments.

“The Minister for Finance receives a number of submissions from different Government departments over the course of the budgetary process and decisions are made based on priorities at the time,” a statement read.

It is the second year in a row that Martin has asked the Department of Finance for an increase to the tax in order to help fund the development of large-scale sports infrastructure in Ireland.

In February 2022, a policy paper prepared by officials at Martin’s department stated that the increase could fund projects such as the redevelopment of Dalymount Park in Dublin, a sports centre for Technological University Dublin, or a centre of excellence for Connacht Rugby.

That came on foot of meetings between Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers and officials in the Department of Finance in 2021.

Ahead of last year’s Budget, officials in the Department of Sport wrote to their counterparts in the Department of Finance to explain that the proposal would help to ensure “an ongoing and increasing level of State investment in sport” to meet sports participation goals laid out in the Programme for Government. 

In correspondence seen by The Journal under FOI, Finance officials responded to this last year to say that money raised from Betting Duty “goes into general exchequer funds rather than being ring-fenced for particular purposes”.

“Your broader arguments around there being a stronger case for extra expenditure in sporting area as a result of increased revenue raised through the betting tax is noted,” an official said.

The proposal to increase the tax has also been mooted by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), who have questioned the link between money raised via Betting Duty and finances allocated to both horse racing and greyhound racing.

A report commissioned by the FAI by KHSK Economic Consultants, which was carried out in 2021 and also submitted to government officials in July 2022, claimed that €1.5bn had been raised via Betting Duty and given to horse and greyhound racing alone since 2001.

The report estimated that this was football accounting for 20 to 30% of all bets placed in Ireland, compared to 50 to 60% of all bets being placed on horse and greyhound racing.

Written by Stephen McDermott and posted on TheJournal.ie