Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Have the other issues, such as the prosecution and enforcement issues and the technical issues around the implementation of this levy on online gambling, been overcome by the Revenue and the Department? As far as the Minister is aware, will we be in a position once the Bill is enacted to commence the collection of this revenue? Fundamentally, that is the question we need answered.

As the Minister indicated, the opening hours in betting shops have been extended. We are still awaiting the gambling control Bill, which is important in this area. Fundamentally, the extension of this levy to online gambling is about fairness and ensuring that the existing betting offices can compete with the online gambling because, with the emergence of applications, apps, people are gambling 24 hours a day and it is easy to do. The State is missing out on a lot of revenue. I welcome the fact that there appears to be progress. As far as the Minister is aware, once the Bill is enacted, are there other obstacles to prevent this from coming on stream and being live?

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