Taxation of Online
Gambling
March
12, 2010
It is surprising that more
countries have not taken advantage of the ability to win big bucks
through offering online gambling. It is true – depending on the size of
your country you will be looking at millions, if not billions of dollars
in additional income for your country. Those countries that allow online
gambling to exist offer it with the caveat that they will pay them money
in taxes which is where all of their money comes from. The amount of
money that the online gambling companies pay to the countries is
miniscule compared to what they get.
Where you license your online gambling site will determine what kind of
tax structure you have. Each of the countries has it set up differently,
so many of the online gambling sites choose where they are going to
license based on the way that the taxes are set up. Many of them set it
up so that the individual bets of the player – based on how much they
win. Others set it up so that the gross profits or revenues determine
how much the online gambling site pays.
Many countries restructured their original ideas behind online gambling
taxation because of what they saw others offering. Many countries such
as Malta, Gibraltar, Antigua and Costa Rica made theirs much more online
gambling company friendly so that they could attract more companies to
them. They consistently offer some of the best terms out there today.
The United Kingdom has had some problems regarding the taxation schedule
that they were trying to set up. Originally they tried to entice the
online gambling companies to come to them which they did, and then they
raised their rates. Now many of those companies are looking to leave the
country, but now the UK says that if they want to offer online gambling
they are going to have to pay a higher tax. They obviously still have
some kinks to work out.
