Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a significant challenge. My understanding is that there is a credit card-based system called merchant acquired data. Presumably, much of those data are based on what merchants provide to Revenue. As such, when we say that there is the potential to raise €20 million on the online side through the 1% levy, there is no guarantee. Using the data, one should be able to get an idea of the total number of bets that are made online. However, online activity is difficult to detect.

The objective is to get the Bill through, after which we will be in a stronger position to consider additional tax measures in future budgets. I do not know whether increasing the rate to 3% would be as simple as multiplying €27 million by three. We would need to contend with the fact that people with habits have a way of getting around measures. The Minister hopes to commence the Betting (Amendment) Bill by the end of this session.