Poker News – According to PokerNews Portugal, Portuguese State Minister Paulo Portas announced that there will be potential online gambling regulation in 2014. Portugal is desperately in need of tax revenues, as they were given a €78 billion bailout from the European Central Bank.
The estimated gross annual revenue in the country is around €60-50 million.
The problem is that the request for regulated online gaming omits rates, and it was evidently included in the budget only to add “virtual income” that will go towards the four-percent deficit target in 2014.
The projected tax rate will be around 20 or 25 percent, which is akin to the rates in other Member States within the European Union. The EU has been quite active with regards to online gaming — a few weeks back, the Court Justice of the European Union ruled that Italy can’t block online gambling sites from Malta with an .eu domain.
PokerNews Portugal contacted pro Carlos “Poeira4” White about the news, and he said “If you put a tax rate above what the players are willing to pay, or consider fair, the market dies…It seems quite obvious that a solution such as England’s or something with a reduced tax rate would make sense.”
White also said that Portugal is an interesting destination for misplaced American players or European players looking to relocate to somewhere nice, but he is unsure whether or not these players will leave their taxes in the country.
