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Bad Sportsmanship in Bookies Tax Campaign

The South Australian Council of Social Service today called the conduct of corporate bookmaker Sportsbet outrageous and unsporting, and called on the state government to push ahead with its planned wagering tax.

Despite making enormous profits from punters, including those in South Australia, Sportsbet has threatened to walk away from sponsorship of the Gawler Racecourse and said that it will drop a future project it claims to have been planning because of the proposed place-of-consumption wagering tax – an initiative which would see the corporate bookmaker pay gambling taxes in South Australia for the first time. 

Last year Sportsbet in Australia took $4,149m in bets, for a net revenue of $470m.1

That was a 41% increase in revenue and led to a phenomenal profit increase of 54% over the previous year.

But because Sportsbet is registered in the Northern Territory, which caps wagering tax at a very low level ($550,000 p.a), this huge growth in revenue would see no increase in the gambling tax paid. At the same time the current advertising campaign to oppose this legislation must be costing millions of dollars.

SACOSS does not know the South Australian component of Sportsbet turnover, but if it was proportionate to our population share, it would be approximately $294m bet for a net revenue of $33m. Sportsbet would pay no South Australian gambling tax on this revenue.

SACOSS Acting CEO Dr Greg Ogle said, "Let’s be clear, Sportsbet is a hugely profitable operation, and their reaction to this proposal to close their use of a virtual tax haven is outrageous and unsporting, or to use a different sporting term, it is an absolute dummy spit!"

"The proposed wagering tax is actually just about ensuring that corporate bookies like Sportsbet pay a fair share of tax, which in every sense is what provides them with a social licence to operate. It is clear this is not happening now under their Northern Territory registration – and even if they were taxed properly in the NT, we in South Australia would still not see any of it.

"The proposed wagering tax is an important way to ensure that profits from South Australian betting are taxed in South Australia, and can be directed to services for South Australians – including support for the problem gamblers that live here and not in virtual tax havens where corporate bookies may choose to nominally reside."

A place-of-consumption wagering tax operates in England and was proposed for Australia in SACOSS’ recent report on gambling taxes, Losing the Jackpot.

    1.  Figures sourced from Annual Report of Sportsbet parent company, Paddy Power, and translated into Australian dollars at an exchange rate of $1 Euro to $1.46 AUD.

 

Published Date: 
Wednesday, 17 August 2016