Profits rise at gambling website owned by Seán Quinn’s family

Profits at the online sports betting and casino business owned by the family of the former Co Cavan billionaire Seán Quinn jumped significantly last year to €2.2 million after tax, while revenue increased by 96 per cent to €17.4 million.

QuinnBet, which was established in 2016, one and a half years after Mr Quinn emerged from bankruptcy, has seen continuing strong growth over recent years.

The €2.2 million in after-tax profit last year compares with €1.46 million in 2020 and €336,000 in 2019. Turnover in 2020 was €8.8 million. The business is based in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, and operates in the Irish and UK markets.

The accounts of the trading company, Belbridge Consulting Ltd, have yet to be filed but QuinnBet chief executive Stephen Kelly released some of its key figures for 2021 to The Irish Times.

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The company increased its workforce last year to 36, up from 22 in 2020. It paid €3.1 million in betting and gaming duties in the UK and Ireland, and paid Irish corporation tax of €318,000, Mr Kelly said.

Igaming Solutions Ltd, a management consultancy company that is part of the QuinnBet group, made a settlement with the Revenue of €46,539 late last year, following a Revenue audit. While the settlement was published in the tax defaulters list, it has not drawn public attention until now.

The settlement comprised tax of €26,913, interest of €12,164, and penalties of €7,462, and arose from the undeclaration of corporation tax, PAYE, PRSI, and USC. Mr Kelly said the company was now being wound down, declining to comment further.

The 2021 accounts for the QuinnBet holding company, QuinnB Sports Ltd, which have been filed, show it paid a dividend last year of €1.5 million.

The group is owned by Mr Quinn’s daughter Brenda, and his grandchildren, with the shares in QuinnBet being largely held by way of other corporate entities. Mr Quinn has not been a shareholder in the business since 2019. Mr Kelly is married to Mr Quinn’s daughter Aoife.

Mr Kelly said that the group got its own UK gaming licence in April of last year, had been trading on it ever since, and that the business was going very well.

Previously, the licensed operator was FSB Technology UK Ltd, which runs sites for a number of client brands under so-called white label arrangements. QuinnBet holds licences now from the UK and Irish authorities.

“The company enjoyed solid growth in 2021,” Mr Kelly said, “almost doubling our turnover. This was achieved while maintaining a strong ethos on safer and responsible gambling. Minimising gambling harm is a key priority for our business.”

Mr Quinn’s business empire, mostly based on the Cavan/Fermanagh border, was seized in 2011 because of multibillion euro debts due to Anglo Irish Bank.

The debts were linked to trading in high-risk financial instruments that allow investors make large returns, or large losses, depending on the direction taken by a share price. A major property portfolio in central and eastern Europe, and further afield, was also seized.