Paddy Power owner Flutter is passing on a betting tax to customers in Illinois in the United States.
The US state’s legislature recently introduced a 25 cent fee on each individual wager placed there, following a substantial betting tax increase last year.
Flutter’s main US subsidiary FanDuel plans to introduce a 50 cent fee on all bets placed with it in Illinois from September 1st in response, the group said on Tuesday.
FanDuel made “extensive efforts” to absorb last year’s increase without hitting customers, Flutter said.
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“Should the state reverse its decision at any point in the future, FanDuel will immediately remove the 50 cent transaction fee,” said a statement.
Peter Jackson, Flutter chief executive, warned that the new tax could prompt some Illinois customers to bet with unregulated operators, which “do not contribute tax revenue to the state”.
Those organisations will not collect the fee newly imposed by lawmakers and do not offer the same customer protection that regulated operators provide, he added.
“We are disappointed that the Illinois transaction fee will disproportionately impact lower wagering recreational customers while also punishing those operators who have invested the most to grow the online regulated market in the state,” Mr Jackson said.
FanDuel is a market leader in the US, where individual states have been legalising online sports betting since a landmark federal supreme court ruling in 2018. The US is now the Irish-based group’s biggest single division.
However, the group last month cautioned that a run of winning favourites could leave US profits trailing original expectations for this year.
Flutter has businesses in the Republic, UK, Europe, the Americas and Australia and earned €152 million profit last year.
Its best-known business in the Republic is bookmaker Paddy Power. In the UK it owns Betfair and Sky Bet.
