What has Pennsylvania gotten itself into with an extremely high tax rate for online casino games? We’re close to finding out. In October 2017, PA Gov. Tom Wolf signed massive gaming bill into law, effectively authorizing real money online poker and casino games which will form part of a large-scale statewide gambling expansion. As regulated US iGaming interests prepare to launch their offerings to the Keystone State market — perhaps as early as this year — here is a look at the 54 percent effective slot revenue tax rate that internet casino operators will be responsible for paying to various…

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…

Pennsylvania could become a leader in online gambling, but a high tax rate could kill the idea before players can place a bet, say two advocates of Internet gambling. “People won’t invest proper marketing dollars to drive revenue if the tax rate’s too high,” says David Licht, executive chairman and CEO of All American Poker Network, which operates an online network in New Jersey and has an agreement with Mt. Airy Casino, Monroe County, to set up online gaming if Pennsylvania legalizes it. “If the tax rate is exceedingly high, the operator is going to take that out on the…

The Guardian – In the budget, George Osborne reduced the tax burden on land based bingo halls and raised it for betting shop fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). Two gambling sectors treated very differently. The basis of this tax hike on FOBTs, as Osborne put it, was to “bring their profitability more in line with other gaming machines on the high street.” The chancellor has underestimated the disparity between FOBTs and other gaming machines. It is far bigger than a 5% tax adjustment can address. In 2013 FOBTs – or “B2” gaming machines as they are categorised – generated more…