Irish bookmakers are likely to set up offshore operations to maintain competitiveness with their UK counterparts unless Mr Charlie McCreevy follows the UK Chancellor's decision to abolish betting tax, Mr Alan Weinrib, director of marketing at Sports Spread, the specialist spread betting company, said yesterday. Sports Spread already has an offshore operation to complement its call centre in Dublin.

Irish bookmakers are now operating at a considerable disadvantage to their UK counterparts and it is now only a matter of time before Mr McCreevy abolishes betting tax, according to Mr Weinrib.