The European Union’s top court will consider the legality of the UK’s online gambling point-of-consumption tax (POCT). The UK implemented its 15% POCT last December, shortly after the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA) launched a preemptive legal challenge. The GBGA believes the POCT discriminates against Gibraltar-licensed UK-facing operators and was primarily intended to boost the UK government’s tax coffers, rather than to protect UK punters from alleged harm. On Tuesday, the UK’s High Court sided with the GBGA, announcing that it was sending the case to the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU). The High Court said…

UK chancellor George Osborne has announced changes for Point of Consumption Tax (POC) and Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs). New tax laws for the UK gambling industry are in the government’s Budget for 2014, with the tax rate for FOBTs increasing to 25%. Additionally, the bingo duty would be cut to 10%, and the government will proceed with plans to introduce a 15% POC tax for remote gambling. UK bookmakers in particular were hit with the announcement that the tax rate for FOBTs will be increased from its current rate of 20% to a new rate of 25%. Shortly after this…