Ireland's EU Budget Draft Skips Online Gambling Levy
Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the EU has circulated a revised negotiating box for the bloc's 2028 to 2034 budget that leaves out a proposed levy on online gambling, a win for Europe's racing bodies who had lobbied against it days earlier.
The Irish Presidency published its revised negotiating box for the Multiannual Financial Framework on October 10 as Council document 13922/26.
It lists five new revenue sources: lump-sum contributions from companies with turnover above 100 million euros, a national tobacco-based contribution, a charge on non-collected electronic waste, a share of Emissions Trading System revenues and a share of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism revenues.
A levy on online gambling, digital services or crypto-assets is not among them, with the document stating only that "work will continue" on new own resources.
Racing Bodies Asked For A Carve-Out
In a letter published on October 8, the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation and the European Trotting Union asked Ireland's Minister of State Thomas Byrne and Finance Minister Simon Harris to keep horserace betting out of any EU-wide gambling levy, warning it risked pushing bettors toward illegal operators and cutting revenue for racing.
EMHF chief executive Paull Khan said horseracing should not be treated like an online casino or slot product, while UET president Peter Truzla said legal betting funds breeders, trainers, racecourses and rural jobs.
On October 11 the two bodies welcomed the Presidency's decision to leave the levy out, though Khan cautioned the threat "has not gone away completely" and called for any future gambling tax proposal to be assessed product by product.
Parliament Support Has Not Disappeared
European Parliament Vice-President Victor Negrescu first proposed an EU-wide levy on online gambling and betting in a February plenary speech, estimating it could raise 2 billion to 4 billion euros a year.
A later European Commission working paper put a 3% levy on net turnover at about 1.9 billion euros annually. The Parliament's interim budget report, adopted in April by 370 votes to 201, named the levy as a fallback option.
Danuse Nerudova, one of the Parliament's own-resources negotiators, said she was "very disappointed that none of Parliament's proposals were taken on board" in the revised draft.
Any new EU own resource needs unanimous approval from member states, and Malta, the European Gaming and Betting Association and four Polish gambling trade bodies have all already opposed a gambling levy, making unanimity an uphill climb before the planned January 2028 start date.
