SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
BoyleSports, Ireland’s second-biggest bookmaker has moved to expand its home market retail capacity acquiring outright the betting shop properties of independent operator Bruce Betting.
Operating since 1977, Bruce Betting maintains a retail portfolio of 18 betting shops located within the counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare and Westmeath.
During 2018, Thomas Byrne Managing Director of Bruce Betting, urged Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe not to proceed with the government’s doubling of betting turnover taxes to 2%, stating that tax demands would wipe-out Irish bookmaking’s smaller players.
Bruce Betting will sell its retail inventory to BoyleSports, despite the Irish Treasury confirming last month that it would introduce a ‘€50,000 a year tax relief’ amendment to its 2020 Budget, protecting the businesses of smaller independent bookmakers.
However, Bruce Betting details that the Treasury’s €50,000 tax relief would have little bearing on its business, operating a small network 18 betting shops.
The acquisition will see Dundalk-based BoyleSports expand its Irish retail network to play + 290 betting shops, having acquired the Galway properties of independent bookmaker ‘Mulholland’ this summer.
Heading into 2020, industry analysts will be monitoring the movements of BoyleSports closely, as the Irish bookmaker undertakes its UK highstreet debut, moving to open 13 betting shops within the Midlands, following its buyout of independent bookmaker Wilf Gilbert.
Accelerating its UK plans, BoyleSports governance maintains its ambitions to acquire a further 100 betting shops within the next 12-months, urging independent bookmakers to contact management with regards to purchasing inventories.
