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IN THE coming week betting in pubs and hotels will no longer be illegal in Ireland - without any change in the law.
Circle Network, a company based in Dublin, is busily installing what it calls e-kiosks all over the country. It has nearly 200 of them up and running at the moment including one in Cork airport and another in Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge. It plans many more and pubs are a prime target.
The e-kiosks offer internet users an electronic shopping mall including banking and ticket sales. But there will be a new dimension in little more than a fortnight following a deal struck last Wednesday with the go-ahead bookmaker Raymond Farrell.
Those surfing the net on the e-kiosks will be able to access Farrell's own site and bet on it, tax-free. The off-course bookmakers, who have long campaigned against illegal betting in pubs, are most unhappy about this development but admit they are powerless to do anything about it.
When they complained to Charlie McCreevy about William Hill offering tax-free betting through a call centre in Athlone, the Minister for Finance said that what counted in the eyes of the law was where the server (the person operating the service) was based. In this case it was the Caribbean island of Antigua and, therefore, the bets were not taxable. Farrell's server will be based in Malaysia.
"I don't believe betting in pubs on the e-kiosks could be considered illegal following what Minister McCreevy has stated," said Brian O'Farrell, chief executive of the Irish Independent Betting Offices Association. "This is a real problem and I don't know where it is going to end."
Circle Network, a company based in Dublin, is busily installing what it calls e-kiosks all over the country. It has nearly 200 of them up and running at the moment including one in Cork airport and another in Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge. It plans many more and pubs are a prime target.
The e-kiosks offer internet users an electronic shopping mall including banking and ticket sales. But there will be a new dimension in little more than a fortnight following a deal struck last Wednesday with the go-ahead bookmaker Raymond Farrell.
Those surfing the net on the e-kiosks will be able to access Farrell's own site and bet on it, tax-free. The off-course bookmakers, who have long campaigned against illegal betting in pubs, are most unhappy about this development but admit they are powerless to do anything about it.
When they complained to Charlie McCreevy about William Hill offering tax-free betting through a call centre in Athlone, the Minister for Finance said that what counted in the eyes of the law was where the server (the person operating the service) was based. In this case it was the Caribbean island of Antigua and, therefore, the bets were not taxable. Farrell's server will be based in Malaysia.
"I don't believe betting in pubs on the e-kiosks could be considered illegal following what Minister McCreevy has stated," said Brian O'Farrell, chief executive of the Irish Independent Betting Offices Association. "This is a real problem and I don't know where it is going to end."