Unresolved Online
Gambling Laws
February
18, 2010
The country of Spain is on
a list of European Union Nations that have not resolved their online
gambling laws in a way that they would like to see. The EU wants to be
very clear that they believe that online gambling is something that
needs to be spread across the continent of Europe, and that it needs to
be accessible to other online gambling companies that might be located
in other countries.
The EU says that for some of the larger countries like Spain to only
allow their own online gambling companies to offer services within their
borders, they are seriously compromising what the other countries will
have the ability to do. They say that this will hurt them financially,
and it gives those countries that have a larger population and edge over
the smaller ones.
The problem is that online gambling is handled differently within each
of the countries in the EU. Spain allows for online gambling with the
other countries but they levy a large tax against them for not being
located in their borders. Those online gambling companies that are
located in Spain get a break, and their players get a reduction in the
tax that they pay if they use those online gambling sites that are
located in the country as well.
Foreign operators operating in Spain say that they are forced to pay all
of the tax without any breaks, and so are their clients. This is truly a
huge incentive for their residents to play at their local online
gambling site instead of paying more. When they came under fire for
offering this deal to their online gambling companies, they said that
thy really only offer it to their charity based online gambling
companies. But the European Court of Justice said that they are required
to offer it to outside companies as well.
