U.K enjoys football and horse racing, especially if they can bet on it. However, the British gamblers, bookies, and betters will be saddened by the UK’s government decision to increase taxes on betting services and casinos online. Rumor has it that the current 15% tax will be increased by several points, to presumably cover the potential hole in the Kingdom’s budget.
Government Goes All In
The UK government solved two problems with one move. The Kingdom loves gambling, but some suggest that this “love for gambling” isn’t mutually beneficial. In fact, the majority of the UK’s population thinks that the government should increase the taxes on betting companies.
Those who support the new tax law suggest that the UK has a huge gambling problem, claiming that more and more of its citizens developing an addiction to gambling. In short, they believe that increased POC taxes will slow down the addiction outbreak.
On POC Taxes
UK introduced POC taxes back in 2014: it was a tool that taxed those UK citizens that would use betting services from a company that generates revenues in the specific area but doesn’t pay taxes in that area.
UK government also claimed that plenty of UK firms took advantage of online possibilities. They would generate revenues from UK citizens, but would never pay taxes in the UK because they conducted they business off the island. Usually, they would run their services online, in the form of websites that offer online casino and sports betting services.
The Other Side Of The Story
Naturally, virtually all gambling companies (primarily foreign) complained about the POC. Companies argued that the increased taxes would cause them to increase the cost of their services. Consequently, they wouldn’t be able to compete with domestic companies.
POC has already been implemented in Australia, but still anxiously awaits application on a national level. With one move, the UK satisfied majority of their citizens protected the gambling companies that operated and pay taxes in the UK. On the downside, they angered a lot of betting companies.
Was It All Calculated?
Some critics say that UK’s motives to increase the POC taxes are much more profound. They argued that the UK government is afraid that announcement to increase the taxes. Government’s research showed that their decision to decrease the betting limits on FOBT machines would lower the revenues collected from betting.
So, to compensate, the UK decided to increase taxes, which should cover the potential hole in the budget. Remember, UK went berserk on FOBT machines, and plans to reduce the max bet limit from $132 to just $5!
Unofficially, the UK government plans to implement the new tax law by the end of 2018 and the FOBT limitations in the first quarter of 2020.
These new laws are part of the much greater plan designed by the UK government, whose goal is to prevent gambling addiction, but also allow gambling shops to provide their services to its citizens.
If the government passes new tax laws, betting companies will probably share the new tax laws with its customers, which should reduce gambling addiction.
