Upon the publish of financial results for the year 2009, Paddy Power’s Chief
Executive, Patrick Kennedy, warned that further increases in the tax burden on
Irish bookmakers could force the company to locate some of its operations offshore
- likely to Gibraltar - mirroring recent moves by UK rivals, Ladbrokes and William
Hill.
Speaking to the Irish Independent on March 2, Kennedy explained that the government’s
proposal to double tax on internet and telephone betting, to 2% of turnover,
would put the company at a further disadvantage to rivals based offshore. While
emphasizing the company’s “strong commitment” to remaining tax resident
in Ireland, Kennedy said it may become a necessity to relocate in order to keep up with
its competitors, should the tax burden continue to increase.
"This is a very competitive, cut-throat market,” Kennedy told the paper. “The gap between doing well and underperforming
is very, very narrow - you can't take too many structural impediments to your
cost base, [and this issue] could be the tipping point.”
Kennedy says that Paddy Power paid around EUR18m in taxes
- namely VAT and corporate income tax - in 2008, via its online and telephone
betting operations, and said that if the turnover tax was doubled, company profits would be reduced by a further EUR2.5m annually. Should the company choose to join
the ‘exodus’ offshore, he explained, Paddy Power's tax liabilty
could be halved.
In a statement accompanying the company’s 2009 results –
which revealed a 15% drop in pre-tax profits to EUR67.2m, in what has been described as "a good year for punters" - Kennedy explained the
company’s stance on the tax spat:
“In recent months we have engaged with the Irish government on the potential
for taxation of telephone and online betting in Ireland. In our view, such a
tax will raise only relatively modest revenue, will be costly to implement and
will be problematic, if not impossible, to enforce; points we have made to the
government with accompanying evidence.”
“We have nonetheless never had an objection to paying tax on the internet
betting of Irish customers, assuming that any tax is enforceable on all internet
bookmakers providing services to the Irish market, and not solely Irish bookmakers
who provide valuable sustainable employment.”
In consultations with Irish bookmakers last year, the Irish government agreed to defer the introduction of the tax hike, and is reassessing its options.
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