“There’s no chance of us coming back onshore. We’d have to pay VAT, the gross betting tax and higher corporation tax,” said chief executive Mark Blandford.
The decision could be controversial because the government is in the process of trying to persuade betting operators to close down their offshore operations. In March, the chancellor Gordon Brown said he would get rid of the 9 per cent tax on gamblers to encourage bookmakers to stay in the UK. The move, which is due to start next year, is expected to save the government £50m ($70m) a year.
Yesterday sportbusiness.com reported that Sportingbet had identified six main areas of progress in the last year: operating presence established in each of the three main time zones; successful flotation on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) raising £15.4m ($21.3m) net of expenses; customer numbers up by 78,668 to 90,065; customer activity level up 1 per cent to 24 per cent on average; customers drawn from 104 countries; and customers active in 24 currencies.
UK-based online bookmaker Sportingbet.com said it would remain offshore to try to cut its full-year losses which narrowed slightly to £4.2 million ($5.8 million) from £5m ($6.9m). Turnover rose to £324.7m ($445m) from £27.4m ($40m)
