BoyleSports acquires betting shops and a firm in UK and Ireland

BoyleSports has bought four betting shops from Jenningsbet in Britain, and has expanded its position in Ireland with the purchase of rival independent bookmaking firm Bruce Betting.

BoyleSports moved into the British retail market in August following the purchase of 13 stores from Midlands-based independent Wilf Gilbert. Now it added four Jenningsbet shops to their estate in Sheffield, Birmingham, Coventry and Cannock.

The company is reportedly in talks with other operators in the Midlands and are on course to achieve their ambition of having a British estate of 100 betting shops in due course, according to Racing Post.

Bruce Betting, which was established in 1977, has an 18-shop portfolio around Ireland, including shops in Dublin, County Wicklow and County Kildare. They also supplied odds to many other independent firms and had an online presence and app.

During 2018, Thomas Byrne, Managing Director of Bruce Betting, urged Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe not to proceed with the government’s doubling of betting turnover taxes to 2%, stating that tax demands would wipe-out Irish bookmaking’s smaller players, a measure that came into effect in January.

Donohoe revealed a two per cent tax cut on the first €50,000 of turnover for all Irish bookmakers in an effort to alleviate pressure on smaller firms, as part of his 2020 budget, but it was met with a lukewarm response by the Irish Bookmakers Association who said it would only benefit the very smallest independent operators.

As well as the Bruce Betting acquisition, BoyleSports recently purchased five Galway-based shops owned by Mulholland Bookmakers.