A tax crackdown by the government of Ireland on unlicensed slot machines has led to a dramatic increase in the number of licenses, according to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe.
In 2017, 9,612 licenses were issued for slot machines, compared to 6,088 in 2016, which has led to a dramatic increase in tax revenues for the machines, according to the Department of Finance. Last year the government collected €2.7m in excise revenue, compared to €1.8m the year before.
Irish law requires that gaming machines in public places have a valid excise license, issued by the department. Machines that don’t have the license can be seized.
However, in recent years there were many reports of machines being operated without a license.
According to Donohoe, who was speaking in Parliament: “In 2017, Revenue started a national compliance project on the gaming and amusement machine sector, which is designed to identify and tackle non-compliance with tax and excise licensing obligations.”
This caused Revenue officers to visit almost 300 different locations, with results varying, but including seizure of unlicensed machines.
