Thomas Byrne, the Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education, needs a summer of careful consideration before revealing which way the Government will lean on the taxation of sports betting.
The Minister, speaking at the Irish consulate in Sydney on Wednesday morning, needs time to consider the value of increasing the gambling levy, and redistributing the extra funding into Irish soccer.
“We will make that call,” said Byrne. “It is an idea in the national sports plan. It was put to the Government in the last budget and the Government decided not to do it. I wasn’t in the job.”
Byrne is due to meet Australian minister for sport Anika Wells before jetting home on Saturday to attend Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling final between Limerick and Kilkenny at Croke Park.
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Australia considers their sports gambling addiction rate to be the worst in the world, but one cent of every dollar gambled is funnelled towards the major sports, like rugby league, cricket, horse racing and Aussie rules.
“One would have to question should we be expanding the profile of gambling,” Byrne countered. “These are all big questions that we have to consider over the summer as we prepare for the budget. We definitely want more money for sports and more money for sports facilities.
“Without the gambling levy for sport, the last sports capital programme for sport was €166 million, more than three times the previous sports capital programme. And we want to double sports funding by 2027, we are well on our way to that, without going near a gambling levy.
“I acknowledge there is a lot of deficits around the place, we have some excellent facilities but I go to Drogheda United and United Park is the same place when I was a kid going to it, maybe with extra seats.
“The stadiums are actually holding back TV because if you have an old decrepit stadium, it doesn’t look good. But what I really want to see more of, and we are working on with the bigger grants now, is a lot more sharing of facilities.”
Asked directly about the gambling levy being increased from two to three per cent and used to fund major Irish sports, and not just horse and greyhound racing, he responded: “I will be considering that over the summer. I can see the strong arguments for it, but people who would have serious concerns about gambling as well would say to me ‘do we really want to be going down that road with gambling because maybe that would increase the profile of it?’
“I am driven by what is in the best interests of sport and what is in the best interests of protecting young people from gambling.”
The Minister also confirmed the extra €500,000 going into Irish women’s soccer this year will be spent exclusively on “grassroots” and not the semi-professional League of Ireland clubs.
When asked to explain what “grassroots” funding means, he stated: “Sport Ireland and the FAI are working out the exact details. We hope to have that ready by the end of July and both boards will approve that.
“Maybe, and this is just an example, it can be to employ coaches to run girls soccer events. Something similar to the ‘mothers and others of the GAA’ to get people more involved but it is all about grassroots participation to get more women and girls involved.
“It won’t be for the professional side, it won’t be for the League of Ireland this particular time.”
