More jobs and more tax revenue. Those are the two main advantages for Ireland if lawmakers decide to allow a land-based casino industry and an online gaming industry to flourish there, according to a report by DKM Economic Consultants.

The report, commissioned by the Gaming & Leisure Association of Ireland, estimates 3,000 jobs will be created by a land-based casino industry. The national treasury would benefit by the annual addition of €50 million to its coffers.

But the development of an online gaming industry could produce even a bigger return, the report states, if Ireland can manage to host just 5 percent of the business.

Given a global online gaming industry that DKM estimates is currently worth €44 billion a year and which it expects will grow to between €95 billion and €130 billion annually by 2015, Ireland could see 10,000 new jobs created in information technology, financial services, advertising and other peripheral businesses over the next 12 years. For the national treasury, it could add up to €230 million a year.

John Lawlor, who wrote the report for DKM Economic Consultants, said, “As the government’s own Casino Committee’s report highlighted, there is a particular window of opportunity for Ireland at the moment, because the online sector is currently largely based in offshore locations that tend to suffer from limitations in terms of IT infrastructure or specialist skill sets. According to the industry sources we have consulted, they would prefer to move onshore to more established and larger jurisdictions, but no such jurisdiction has moved to adequately accommodate them as of yet. This window of opportunity is unlikely to remain open in the long run, however, as strong growth in the sector and straitened economic times make them an attractive target.”

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.