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The have been a tax proposal recently announced which according to the officials will impact the overall situation of Ukraine. Few things to consider here :


If you do think that 10% is a huge amount I do think you have to read the full article where they state that for them it was a sum between 10-30% . For the government a 10% tax proposal is honestly low. But according to the experts this might reduce the consumption.

The companies might soon find them in a bind. The license fee is also supposed to hike which will cause probelms for the new companies. For the already established one's it might be a bad news nothing else but the government will soon see lower people interested in establishing their own companies. I do think the government is trying to compensate for covid and at the same time there are some probelms with Russia right now therefore they are trying to play safe and earn some money.

What do you think ?
 https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/gambling-tax-proposal-may-impact-ukraine-state-and-local-budgets/ (https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/gambling-tax-proposal-may-impact-ukraine-state-and-local-budgets/)

It seems like a fairly good idea with the tax amount being low but possibly required to draw in gambling institutions from other locations. The key thing with Ukraine is it has suffered corruption for so many decades that any new law has to be kept as simple as possible with transparency being the number one aim. When corruption becomes so deeply ingrained in a society, to destroy it you will upset a lot of people even though the average citizen will be much better off long term if it is designed well enough. I can only hope the politicians have the courage to see through the reforms, because there will be a lot of dirty money throwing all sorts of tricks to keep the current situation. Best of luck to Ukraine and any country that is trying to better themselves through honest, scientific and expert led reforms.

Nevada have like the lowest tax rates around 6.75% and at the same time the gambling winnings are taxed at much much higher rates, consider USA , they have to give like 24-25% of their winnings !! This is outrageous. When you are talking about gambling company as an investment 0% tax rate is there is the investor directly holds 50% or more. Which is quite a shock to see the government keeping gambling aside at 10%.

But then again I think it's reasonable as compared to other state authorities. If you compare it with the prices in the whole Europe, you will be shocked.

You have to pay 23% if you have a gambling company and 35% If you have a slot machine !!! Therefore Ukraine is much better in comparison.

Nothing to be shocked and heck 10% is something reasonable compare into other states or countries which does have outrageous taxation percentage.

We cant tell on whats the reason on sudden change but with due common sense then its understandable that they would really be needing some add up
not only for sake of economy but also with that pandemic situation i presume.

Taxation is never been bad as long it would be handled out correctly. Bad news for those who do tempt to make a new business but actually its for the own good.

in my country the tax are much higher than these, and the government has many fines in case of any infraction, if I'm not mistaken the minimum tax in my country is 17%... I don't know how the governors of my country they think when they pose so many obstacles. if a person and a company are paying high fees then how are people supposed to be able to become financially independent? how do you expect gambling companies not to go bankrupt if they have to pay high tax? maybe the world will only develop when the current generation starts to assume power in governments

Those numbers are just too far off from this list;
https://www.casino.org/blog/comparing-gambling-taxes-around-the-world/

Since this is still a proposal then it could be still changed nor not to be implied or integrated but frankly speaking it isn't really just too big
to freak on for those gambling business owners out there.

That is a normal number for me at 10% and I am not shocked at all.Where I am located right now is 15% and people are well aware of it.It looks like different governments are finding new ways to make government pockets full so they can keep the state running and why not improve it a bit.Here the government although a poor one like Albania have already passed the law that Bitcoin is legal and are now studying ways to tax mining income.Probably they will add buy/sell tax later but this all adds up to government pockets which in theory should serve better its citizens although we know this is rarely the case nowadays.

I do agree that 10% is considerably low as compared to other countries.
Just to get an idea where they are positioned at, in terms of gambling tax rate.

This article was only last year. So the rates may have not changed significantly as compared today.
As long as the government is putting those funds into good use, that would be fine.

https://www.casino.org/blog/comparing-gambling-taxes-around-the-world/
https://i.imgur.com/9To1b3a.png

May I know what's the current tax rate in gambling in that country?

Because the issue is, if the 10% flat rate tax will be imposed, it will affect the gambling revenue in the country or the overall budget that's why parliament wants the government to consider subsidies to address the deficit.

Those proposals are a product of a brain-storming so it's make me think that it's a big issue there that tax related to gambling should be modified.

Reading the article posted by OP, there are other things that are discussed also like "make additional contributions to social programs to address the negative impact of gambling and thus raise the cost of their services and further reduce gambling levels." At least, they are also worried about the negative impact of gambling on their citizens. So to compensate for such impact, these gambling businesses will contribute on social programs of their country. And in terms of the tax rate, I believe, that's very reasonable rate considering that other countries are charging much much higher than their rate. It means, these businesses can still survive even with this 10% tax rate.

Is this about bricks and mortar gambling companies? I don't see online casinos going broke, especially if they are from other locations. For them it is just an integration of the Ukrainian language in their web interface. It is not that they run a totally independent and different company in Ukraine.

I wonder anyway how is the Ukraine going to stop online casinos from abroad? There is literally no country in the world that managed to do that because of VPNs.

I also don't know about the statistics of gambling in Ukraine, but the financial damage Covid has caused s probably so substantial that a gambling tax is a drop in the bucket at maximum I would guess.

The article is interesting but it doesn't talk about taxes on cryptocurrencies and gambling winnings in cryptocurrencies. Usually profits from cryptocurrency investments are already taxed by authorities then they are not able to tax gambling winnings in cryptocurrencies to keep a consistent regulation and avoid double taxations.

10% sounds low but casinos can be unlucky too, its 10% of the profits I guess just confusing for me when they say 10% flat tax I wonder if they want to tax money for revenue which is going to be a problem.   Doesnt sound feasible because any gambling operation can lose big at least sometimes that will occur.   Profit sharing is normal in commodity take businesses where its a natural resource and gambling is considered a recession proof industry useful to government for its consistency thats why an outright ban rarely makes sense and is usually just handing trade to other countries as almost any population of people will gamble on something.

I'd actually appreciate it if newer companies were prevented from being created due to the fees of starting up one being quite low. I'd rather have a single casino that's honest to its customers than looking for one in a multitude of casinos that are probably scamming other newbies. Quite rare, but it still happens I must say. And besides, I don't think the government even has the idea of actually wanting more people to create more gambling companies, now that'd be just odd no?

As for the tax, well, as long as it's managed properly I don't really think it's that high. It's actually on the low side even.

10% tax for a casino is not that high because in my country they have a really elaborate ways to tax the gambling houses and the government even have their own gambling house that works on charity most of the time.

Since you saying it's a proposal depending on how the affected parties react...tax rate could go lower but I see a drop in gambling companies and a barrier to entry for new players in this industry.

But why tax gambling now are Ukrainians gambling alot? Thought with the Corona pandemic gambling was expected to be on the rise.

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Clearly these high tax rates show the intention of the government which is to discourage gambling by its citizens and maybe try to indirectly try to push its people in much more constructive activitiesthan gambling as the govt  sees gambling to have a negative effect on a person and reduce their productivity at work if they keep this up.

I have read about the tax proposals that will be imposed by the Ukrainian government on gambling, from a gambling perspective it is a big reason to improve the country's current economy, no wonder in certain countries the list of online gambling sites is booming, they know that gambling is currently the biggest favorite among many people.

It is for this reason that many countries are currently implementing a taxation system on gambling sites, the state believes it is one of the main reasons to improve the country's economy, as Ukraine did.

I've read about countries that implement a tax system, but that only applies to casino gambling sites, not to bettors.

If i see ukraine doing as i see in this article i think it will be bad for the players themselves, if taxation is passed on to the winner.

For that each country has its own laws in taxation rules.

That's right there's a lot of people that plays lottery and that's a government owned gambling house which some of the winners are tax free actually so they can attract more gamblers. The tax proposal should have a good purpose to raise extra funds but if they are just imposing taxes for their own benefit then its useless. Ukraine are too strict in gambling, you have to follow the law and if you are obliged to pay necessary taxes, you can't do anything about it.

Proposal can be revised depend on what they will be considered , because in every rules there is opposition and i know it will come everytime .
Ukraine is a gambling lover country same as russian and other european countries so basically the rules will be applied in reasonable way.
30% is more appropriate than losing in gambling all the way.

Some will say it's outrageous, but others will agree with a winning tax cut. I wouldn't think that small scale gamblers would have a problem with taxe their winning because as long as they don't bet thousand or million of dollar then I would think they would be tax safe. Only gambling whales will think about the amount of tax they will pay the government, while another else is a tax-safe gambler. However, you may hear that lottery winners will surrender to give part of their winnings to the government for taxes.

OP, 10% may be a small number compared to other countries' tax laws, but is it much less for a winners tax?

I don't think that the proposed rate of 10% is too low. Gambling industry doesn't have very big profit margins, so it is not viable to tax them at the default corporate tax rates. And also remember that the tax is applicable on gross revenues, and not on the profit. So ideally I would argue for a rate even lower than 10%. But I like the attitude from the Ukrainian government. At least they are not prohibiting the gambling industry and pushing it to underground like many of the other countries are doing.

10% permanent taxation for gambling must be enough for this situation

https://i.imgur.com/whfZerT.png


Ukrainian  must understand what is the benefits of taxation for their country and also for their activities.

Sometimes we are just looking for the bad effect but not for the good one.

I believe that 10% is best enough mate. not too high and not too low.

Wait so before this there was no gambling tax in Ukraine? Damn, of course they should implement it:)

I mean, even in my country where you don't see casinos because they're just not allowed, there is a gaming tax sometimes called entertainment tax on lotteries and number games:)

I think it's good to get revenue from gambling, knowing that it does put a small burden on the country.

I don't think a tax would be imposed by the government on them in a country that prohibit gambling like my country because it become illogical when they ban it.

Taxes from gambling will help the government to earn extra money as state revenue, especially in countries that have legalized gambling. Although 10% does not seem too big, it will help the government increase the state treasury during the pandemic.

Recently, in many countries of the former CIS there is a gradual impoverishment of the population, many businesses are closing because it is simply unrealistic to compete with Chinese production. Due to the decline in demand for oil and gas, the government is forced to increase the tax burden on business and the gambling business is no exception. 

Gambling business would be no exception considering on how big the business or industry is then no doubt that they would really be on the top of the list in case there would be sudden changes in talks of taxation on some business due to that lack or lesser revenue that they are getting on other businesses as well. It isnt surprising that they would make out sudden changes or decisions in regards to this but actually its just for the own good.

Income taxes in the USA were originally marketed as a way to "punish the rich".

In 1913, when income taxes were legislated the wealthy paid 6% income taxes, everyone else paid 1%. Needless to say, it didn't take long for "punish the rich" income taxes to flip to a point where the poor were paying higher taxes than the rich. As normally occurs with "punish the rich" campaigns.

I guess the question here is what percentage of taxes is fair to people. How high can taxes go, before they're deemed unfair and need reform. Do people get their money's worth for taxes paid to governments.

This sure is an attempt to recover from serious losses and debts in Ukraine, resulting from decades of corruption and now, in addition, a pandemic. Gambling became legal there only about a year ago because the government foresaw the upcoming losses, and now they're figuring out the taxes, because the previous laws suggested much higher taxes, which decreased the number of companies that want to get involved with this business.

But these laws are sneaky. For instance, in addition to taxes, there's also a huge amount of money one needs to pay for a license, which ranges from $70,000 to $13.5 million depending on the type of gambling business ($1.5 million for online gambling).

And these 10% taxes are only "gambling taxes", but there are also additional 18% taxes on business revenue (as gambling is also a business). So in the end, an average person wouldn't be able to run such a business. Even with decreased taxes you still need a lot of money, especially in the beginning.

Tax money is the source for the government and when they meet with unexpected needs like the pandemic, what they do is add up tax. The proposal by Ukraine in my view is acceptable, because they're not into taxation of the essential things. In certain countries taxes were increased on the essential things. Already People are suffering financially, the taxes once again adds pain.

Particularly on the fuel price which leads to the hike in the price of each and everything.

Taxes are very important for the state to be able to get money that can be used for government projects that aim to make the population prosperous.
This means that the purpose of imposing taxes is good, so I agree that the Ukrainian government should impose taxes if gambling is legal.
Because not all countries legalize gambling, it is impossible for countries to get taxes from the gambling industry if the country prohibits gambling.
Taxes from gambling should be able to help the Ukrainian government, because we know the circulation of money in the gambling world is very large.
Even though I am not a Ukrainian citizen, I support the Ukrainian government to impose taxes. It is for the good of Ukrainian citizens themselves.
The most important thing is that the Ukrainian government must be right in utilizing the taxes obtained from the gambling.

I believe that raising taxes is an admission that the government is not able to properly manage the funds coming into the treasury, and without this it is impossible to raise the economy of the country. Instead of raising taxes, we need to think about how to minimize spending on management, how to increase the number of jobs and retrain workers if necessary.

If the taxes are properly spent and they all benefit the public, I don't have any worries about paying bigger taxes, look at Scandinavian Peninsula, some of the countries there have some of the biggest taxes in Europe but they were able to justifiy it with a universal healthcare and a free colleges or sometimes even paid to study in their universities and social welfare.

But if the government just raises the taxes without discussing with the other element, I am afraid to demonstrate from the business owner because, in this pandemic, they feel it is hard to make a profit. Maybe tax really help the country to survive in this pandemic, but the government needs to analyze to find which business or industry still survives. But they can not generalize one business for all business owners because that will depend on how big their company is. That will be the same if they want to use the regulation to the gambling industry because, as we know, that gambling business will depend on how much the owner uses their money to reopen their business again.

10% is not a big amount and all of us can agree with that .


in the qoute it says they remove the hike in license fee . i dont know which one is correct but this is not a bad news for the owners that are done purchasing thier license but its a bad news for the new owners that are trying to build their own casino although this wont stop them for continuing in this business because there will also be gamblers that wont stop playing a gambling .

If you are getting legal recognition under the law of country at the stake of 10% tax proposals then it's not too high according to me because there are countries charging even higher tax amounts than this as shared by other members on the forum like France upto 84% seriously? Moreover house is earning a lot already so sharing with government to contribute for country's growth and social causes is not bad move at all.They can gain huge profits with increased customer base.But as casino owners will always have sharing of profits with third party as an issue but they need to think about it closely and accept this fact.

Yeah we all know what taxes do:) But the point for gambling tax isn't just to get revenue, which is what all vice tax is about, which is actually to help pay for the cost of consequences.

Smoking tax: to help pay for medical bills to treat smoking patients.
Gambling tax: to help pay for counseling and other support to treat addicts.

Ok, let's discuss it from the government's perspective. Usually a government reduces tx burden on certain activity if they want to promote it and vice versa. If a government wants to slowly discourage gambling activities in their country, they may not take some drastic steps because it would affect the employment and the entire industry. So they go ahead with phased increase in taxes and licensing fees to make it harder for new companies to join the bandwagon.

I think Ukraine government is planning some sort of phased erosion of gambling activities in their country. Definitely they will face a lot of backlash from the industry. But the final decision is yet to be seen.

To be honest this makes sense if the government is indeed, trying to prevent other businesses from joining this bandwagon.

Personally, I see it on another perspective. Since the government sees that gambling establishments have been profitable over the past years (especially during this pandemic), it is normal for them to increase the taxes in order to get revenue. Such revenue now will enable the government to create projects for the benefit of their country. Of course, this scenario will happen in a perfect government where corruption is not present.

Sound like not much to be honest, a 10% on winnings I assume?  Or is in on corporate profit? Is it directly on any sum gambled on withdrawals? There are many ways to implement this and all of them have quite different results. For example, if it is on net yearly winning per individual it is not much but if it is 10% of any amount gambled at anytime... well that much more impacting in the gambling levels.

Curious how new regulations tend to appear more damaging for large companies, but as you say de facto they reduce the ability for new players to start their stuff.

I honestly see no problem with increasing the tax on gambling. If that is what it takes to discourage gamblers and probably avoid a worsening statistics of gambling addiction and gambling-related crimes, then it is good. If that is also what it takes for Ukraine to somehow raise funds in order to support the more basic needs of the populace especially in the times of pandemic, then it is also good. After all, gambling is just a luxury or just one of the ways people waste money.

If this enables the government to stop gamblers—especially the problematic and addicted ones—then it's by no means an excellent way of helping to revive the economy and reducing the number of problematic gamblers in the country. Adopting a steep taxation model and expensive licensing fees will discourage new platforms to pop up and be an addition to the list of things they need to worry about. It's honestly better this way than Ukraine having to ban the industry at all. It's literally hitting two birds with one stone, though they could be aiming for the eradication of gambling on the country more than getting something from the industry itself.

In the article it is mentioned that the tax is applicable on total revenues (i.e the total income made by the casino as a result of the house edge). Winnings by the gamblers will be subjected to income tax, and they will not come under corporate tax. And income tax will be calculated on annual basis. So if a particular individual had won $1000 and lost $800 for that particular year, then he needs to pay tax on the difference (i.e $200). If the tax is deducted every time, then the gambling business will become unviable.

according to the article it is 10% taxation in which for me is very decent and good enough to manage a good gambling experience for the whole Ukraine .

Even in many countries there are much higher tax required by the government.

and  I believe that there are no really a big issue on this part.

Does OP comes from Ukraine? because why it seems that he is more affected compared to Ukrainian in this forum.

There is a global tendency of increasing taxes nowadays due to the infinite global economical crisis boosted recently by coronavirus pandemic. We are going to see taxes increasing and currencies losing value much faster from now on. In this case it really doesn't look too absurd, because in my country the lottery tax for winners is around 30% and probably there are some extra taxes hidden besides these 30%.
It would be interesting to know what ukrainians have to say about it. As I see people there don't accept to be abused by the government.

I don't see any problems here as well, but it's probably because we gamble with crypto and we are not whales! So we are partly anonymous and we don't gamble with big money, so we are under radars and we don't pay any taxes on our winning, at least I don't!

Basically, it's what governments do... they see where is the money, impose their rules, regulate it and tax it! After all, that is happening with crypto in some countries already, while in some countries (like mine) there's still nothing about that!
And like always, some countries will have soft rules and an open approach, some will have hard rules and regulations to making something totally illegal for use!

I don't believe that The main target here is to discourage gamblers to play but to increase the collection because there are big expenses from the pandemic season.
Yeah they are seeking for recovery funds because of too much expenses when the pandemic attach and also from the vaccine .

10% flat tax rate seems fair to be honest compared to some other countries which even collect 30 to 40% as tax but having the progressive tax is better than flat tax rate so they can avoid the people from stop their gambling activities.

I mean, why not both right? Besides, the gambling industry is a big business, not to mention that 10% is actually on the lowside, so it's not really a detriment. It's just a plus for both sides, government gets more money, casinos have more chances to spread their name, easy as that. Besides, even with casino taxes, I hardly doubt it could dent the damage that the pandemic caused. It'd be more likely for it to actually be remedied if once the pandemic is gone, is that people spend money outside instead of hoarding it.

Exactly, and that's fair enough if you will compare it to other countries. Ukraine must lucky enough because their government only asks a small amount to be taxed by the individual income tax. See on this list of countries by tax rates ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates ), you will see it's rarely that country to pay 10% for tax.

When it comes to tax revenue, the gambling industry was a great help, imagine, after lockdown implemented in all countries, it seems gambling was back to operate because they know how a big help will contribute in order to our economy will recover back. So that is fair enough to Ukraine.

Have you read the whole article? There was no mention of COVID or vaccine. There was actually no mention of the need to increase revenue coming from the gambling industry in order to support the rising expenses brought by the pandemic. But there was a mention of minimizing consumption. Aside from that, there was also a mention of gambling social impact which requires attention. Although I think it would help the country's need for funds especially in the time of pandemic, there is actually no reason to think that this is its main reason.

When it comes to activities or products that are thought to be negative for the society governments set very high taxes so a flat tax of 10% seems like a bargain to me, where I live the tax is a minimum of 30% and for what I have read it is a complete pain to get the license on the first place, so if anything I think this is a good thing and the casino operators at Ukraine should be happy they have sensible politicians which think about them and their interests.

10% maybe not a high tax rate compared to some other countries with very high tax rates. So far, 10% becomes in the middle of the good choice and includes into the small tax country give to gambling.
We can see other countries rate taxes here:
https://www.taxback.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-gambling-tax-rates-around-the-world
And some countries also differentiate the tax rate between online and offline taxes.

Well, if the tax rate becomes the best solution to press the gambling, just follow. It is relief that gambling is legal in that country that should involve the tax. In my country, it is still forbiden.

I guess it's just a small amount for the gambling casinos because there are a lot of people today who makes gambling with a huge amount but again there are some management who don't want to pay a lot even though it a 10 percent imagine how much you earn and then the 10 per cent of the total earning will go to the government, still its a regulation on their country if they want to make gambling casino. The whole goal is to have an authority to run a gambling casino also its just a small amount to them if they will pay those for having a tax. Base on my country they are having a 10-20 percent (https://www.legalonlinecasinos.ph/laws/faqs/) of tax.

If the amount is small, the casino will not think much. I think the casino can pay the taxes because their profit will be bigger than the amount they should pay. I am sure the casino will follow the regulation from their country because as long as they can obey the rule, their business will be safe and no one can disturb them to make a profit. People can hope that it can help the country to grow, especially in this pandemic.

In my opinion, it should be 30% I do consider that it may affect some small or just starting gambling casino's in Ukraine but we are in the midst of a pandemic and instead of just focusing on the needs people tend to face on their wants that they don't usually need, and gambling is something that they surely hold on in times if they want instant money, some just consider this as having fun, I really think this is a fair idea that the government should implement, and by doing so I guess some people will now avoid gambling but I think people with stable financial status would just consider this as OK.

10% is already a huge amount especially for small gamblers but other countries are actually asking for higher tax so it's still something to be grateful about. In our country, our government is always asking and looking for sources of taxes so gamblers are always being taxed more than 10%. If it's the government's law, then we have to abide it.

Oh lol, I'm from Ukraine and here such business will be controled by the "right" people (in meaning, that this will be policemen or affiliated with government). So here is no much we can discuss  :)

But, here is full taxation: "Ha cьoгoднi в Укpaїнi гpaльний бiзнec oпoдaткoвyєтьcя зa тpьoмa нaпpямкaми. Пo-пepшe, opгaнiзaтopи aзapтниx iгop плaтять пoдaтoк нa пpибyтoк пiдпpиємcтв (ПнПП) y poзмipi 18% – як i iншi cyб’єкти гocпoдapювaння. Пo-дpyгe, дoдaткoвo дo ПнПП, вoни плaтять пoдaтoк нa дoxiд вiд гpaльнoгo бiзнecy (див. Bинocкa 2). Пo-тpeтє, тoй, xтo oтpимaв вигpaш, тaкoж плaтить пoдaтoк нa дoxoди вiд вигpaшiв тa пpизiв, i cтaвкa цьoгo пoдaткy дopiвнює cтaвцi пoдaткy нa дoxoди фiзичниx ociб (18%), щo пpибиpaє мoжливocтi викopиcтaння piзниx cтaвoк пoдaткy для мiнiмiзaцiї oпoдaткyвaння гpoмaдянaми. " link  (https://voxukraine.org/deputatske-znizhennya-opodatkuvannya-dlya-gralnogo-hto-nedootrimaye-groshi/)

So for business it will be like 10 % + 18 % (if they will pay it at all lol)
And 18 % also if you're winning something.

Well, on my own --that is not a huge amount, 10% is just a normal percentage that gives as a tax to most gambling companies. There are too many gambling companies that give more than 30% or even 40% tax rates. Considering gambling businessmen in Ukraine are lucky enough of this proposal, they had a great advantage if we compared by other countries. Each country has a different tax rate, there are high tax rates like Germany and UAE also opposite that has the lowest rates. So it matters which country you are in.

Guys, read my article above: They are talking about 2nd tax. We have first tax which is 18 % of your profit. So, total tax with 10 % will be like 28 % on casino profit. This is not a small amount, but for gambling it will fit the best (because gambling is a business with small investment and small operational cost)

btw, from this picture, the gambling tax imposed on the citizens of Francis is really crazy...

10% gambling tax for me is not so high when compared to the facilities and profits that can be obtained. here in my country, we have not been taxed on gambling because gambling is illegal here, maybe if our country legalizes gambling and imposes a 10% tax on gambling then I will definitely accept it.

This won't stop people from gambling, as the tax on winnings was canceled. So the new law only affects the owners, and considering other additional taxes they have to pay, the pressure is pretty big. If the government wants the gambling business to develop in order to recover the economy after the pandemic - they ought to be more supportive, at least at the beginning. Or else, no one will want to deal with this, it's way too risky.

The best tax system is to only charge the gambling operators and make it tax-free for the gamblers.

In general, gamblers lose money while casinos are profitable as they have the house edge, so tax should be charged to those who are making a profit.
Actually, it should not be complicated to understand, a gambler winning does not mean he is in profit as profit is computer based on the overall flow of cash and most overall, gamblers are in a net loss.

Gamblers to pay taxes will not make a casino attractive and in the end, the government would not be able to maximize their tax revenue from gambling business.

If we are to calculate the level of problem and economic meltdowns cause through the pandemic, I don't see anything bad you the new tax proposal wrung by the Ukraine government because the tax will also move the country forward and i support the taxation of any winning that's above $1,750.

Wont really be that implemented on such changes if it wont really be beneficial for the country specially that we hitted up badly be the pandemic then its just understandable tbat government would really be needing more revenue on at least making the economy able to sustain or rise up.
10% isnt really that much and i dont know on why people been complaining about it which its just normal that government would be finding out some
solutions at least and as long there wont be corruption would really be involved then this would really be a good initiative.

Taxation on the winning profit above $1750 is really a good move, but how can this be made effective with the online gambling platforms. Most of the countries were not into cryptocurrency adoption for this reason. They have made taxes for cryptocurrency associated activities, but they weren't able to calculate and collect taxes. The initiative is good, but how effective this gonna executed?

I absolutely agree with you, but only if we were talking about another country, for example the United States, England, France where citizens are sure that every dollar from taxes is really spent on solving some problems, but not Ukraine, where taxpayers' money goes into the pockets of corrupt officials.

I don't know why the 10% tax rate can seem huge to anyone if other taxes are higher and in Ukraine, people pay around 45% of their money in taxes if everything is considered (for example, there's a 20% VAT on any food you purchase in a supermarket, so the 45% figure takes it into account). But Ukraine just recently passed a gambling law, so I don't think that a new and significantly different one will be adopted any time soon. Oh, and when I googled it in Ukrainian, the news on the 10% tax rate are all from the beginning of March, so I'm not even sure the news is relevant anymore.

^ Probably, until now and it was written it here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Ukraine.
It is 0%-10% approximately on that range and it seems this tax proposal will climb up when the supply is out. Probably they saw that cryptocurrency has a proposal that they will never think of. Back to the topic, I think that is a fair enough individual task no to do again.

I also don't see the 10% to be much cause every government around the world are looking for means of funds to maintain their country economy but in spite that it normal to still see some people that will complain about the issue cause their thought is that the government are not fair to them.


I don't know how effective this move will be but what I read is that the Ukraine government does not recognize crypto and still it is not illegal. If they make move to tax crypto related casino it mean they will support crypto currency soon.


You make a point but not paying the tax is not an option for gamblers in Ukraine cause the government only has business with the booker/casino to deliver the appropriate tax fund, not their users.

It is way better to regulate and get some taxes out of an activity like gambling than to forbid it completely, after all this is not going to stop people to still gamble, because as we know there are many casinos online that allows you to gamble with cryptocurrencies and they cannot block every single site on the Internet, by forbidding gambling they are denying themselves the possibility to obtain some money out of it, generate jobs and to keep that money circulating in the economy.

Its not a one off, any country has a benefit from this industry and similar that are counter cyclical which means they dont especially reduce in revenue during a recession which is important to government fiscal budget balance.   It adds stability basically, quite ironic but gambling revenue helps a country stay more stable through swings in the economy because bet revenue stays so frequent and regular.
  Any tax has to be quite light to allow operations to stay competitive vs the wider alternatives globally because no country can afford to cut itself off from the world now and be better off.

It is indeed better to impose higher tax than totally banning it. Because gambling will always be here, if they will ban it, people will just go underground, in which, they can't get their contribution. And also, their percentage of tax is still low as compared to other countries. So in my opinion, it is just right. We will see if their gambling industry will still thrive after this imposition of tax.

If in March, than everything still very relevant. Because this is proposal, after that they will create a law and parliament needs to vote for it. Or as i see, law is already created but needs to be accepted by government. So we will see in the near future.

True, Operators will still find ways to operate even if it is illegal. There are many underground casinos that exist in every country and some of those underground casinos are in a country that gambling can be legalized. It is better to just give an option to operators to go legal despite having high tax. If tax is pretty high, there is a tendency that only a few casinos will exist and could result in high traffic of customers to those few casinos. It will be a battle of survival of casinos in that country.

I don't see anything wrong with high taxes on gambling products. In this business, it's easy to earn money but very hard to establish as a casino. Easy money - easy (high) tax, no problem. Btw in Germany, people pay very high taxes on everything. Your net salary is roughly 58% of your gross salary, it still depends on your income, marriage status, etc. So, for Germany, it's as it should be.
Seems, this isn't the niche they want to develop. Btw Ukraine has very beautiful girls and it could be easy for them to make partnerships with Evolution or other b2b gaming service providers and open a massive number of studios. These kind of companies are really looking for beautiful girls, in Ukraine, they are a lot.

If the taxes are expensive, but the services you have access in retribution are decent I think there is nothing wrong in paying more. But actually it only works this way in West Europe, North America and few asian countries. All the rest are well known for precarious public services and high taxes at same time. So it's normal people from those countries become more skeptical about the use of tax money by the government, even more because there is a huge history of corruption on those countries. In Ukraine it is not different and probably that is why citizens become easily angry over their politicians and their proposals to take more money from the population.

True true. But as i said before, 10 % tax is not too much by itself. But we can add taxes correct: 18 % tax for income + 10 % tax (about which we are talking about) + 20 % VAT (if you (casino owner) want to buy something from your gambling income) and in result we will get something like 48 % for your income money. From diagram above we can see that this is not the worst result (in France as i see taxes is like 83.5 %) but not the best to open your casino in Second world country.

And yet some governments do not seem to see this, it seems they prefer to keep their archaic attitudes towards gambling, which is weird after all we are seeing some countries allowing their citizens to consume drugs that years before were forbidden and yet if you ask me it is way obvious that a drug is way more damaging than gambling especially when gambling has so many positive effects for the economy and yet the posture of many governments towards gambling does not seem as if it is going to change.

Trying to compare that drug problem is an another serious matter which cant really be that resolved if they do wanted it to be banned or prohibited.,

It is just typical that all of government wouldnt really allow these illegal things to be tolerated and tell me on which part of the world on where drugs had been allowed? specially the illegal ones?

Its not just right on making out comparison between gambling addiction and drug addiction and of course you would really be seeing different take of government in talks to this.

compared to other countries, the gambling tax in ukraine is still in very small limits compared to other countries which also legalize gambling, the ukraine government will only apply a final tax of around 10%, but this is still only a draft law and of course the relevant parliament will decide whether or not the new rules are good, the circulation of money that occurs in gambling is quite large, so that sometimes the government collects a slightly larger tax and of course the tax will also be used for the welfare the people and  with this tax the continuity of gambling in the ukraina will be more guaranteed both for the players and for the existing casino in my opinion.

That's a lot.

I wonder how much money does a casino owner made to be taxed something like that. Maybe more than a million because the owner doesn't complain or they did complain but they may have some dirty tactics to avoid paying the correct taxes?

I think it's a way to discourage owning or having a casino on their place because they don't want to make their people suffering from addiction through gambling or did I miss something?

In many states of the US cannabis for recreational use has been legalized and we know that this is a process that has been taking place there for years which is odd as it was the US the country that began the war on drugs almost a century ago around the world, so this happens and gambling despite all of this is not legal everywhere when it is better for the government to legalize the activity as if the excuse they are using to keep it banned is that it creates addiction then it does not make sense to keep it banned when people can easily access gambling websites from their smartphones or they can attend an illegal casino.

The taxation is pretty reasonable for me and as OP said, it's fairly low compared to other countries out there although all taxes in gambling are pretty much justified since they still make a lot of money.

Putting a tax on them is not a problem at all especially if their Government thinks that it will help their economy or their country in a way, as long as it won't be use on their Government officials personal use (hopefully), then it's all good. Most of the countries around the globe do put taxes on gambling platforms (casinos, and gambling sites).

The pandemic gave all of us a huge problem and one of them is that most of the economic sectors suffers in the sudden declination of sales, causing the economy to fall down, and that's where taxes are being use to support our economy.

It would be good to compare the level of people's income and pensions. I am sure that on the minimum pension of a citizen of France (about 800 euros) you can easily live in Ukraine. But on the pension of a Ukrainian in France clearly you can not live. Therefore, in my opinion it is not quite correct to compare taxes if the level of income of citizens differ by times. 

At this time of pandemic it really shows the significance of the gambling business in economy of one country I mean due to being locked down of the country, many business establishments were closed but online gambling is up which is hopefully the government could put a tax to those casino or gambling establishments operated during pandemic because the tax this gambling establishments is a big help on the chaos of econmy we faced right now. And I think a 10% amount of tax is not that too much.

If those tax is only applicable for the casino, that will not be a problem for them since they can make a huge money from the gambler. But if that is apply to the gambler, then that will not useful because the gambler already payed the tax for their income or salary. It is normal if the government want to collects a larger tax from the casino reminds the casino can produce much money. If that a draft law can succeed to be applied to the casino, that can really help the country to survive in this pandemic. But the casino needs to show their income to the government before the law become legally.

Even if the pandemic affected negatively many industries there were many that saw a huge spike in the demand, and one of them was the gambling industry, with the lockdowns that we suffered all around the world people needed not only a way to entertain themselves but also a way to find some excitement in their lives and gambling gave that excitement to some of those people, something that was no small feat because as we know even if it seems the pandemic is finally being put under control a great deal of psychological issues were created because people were not ready to face social isolation for such a long period of time.

There's a demand for basic needs and entertainment as well, and since we are afraid to go out because of the virus, we prefer to get that entertainment at home and online gambling is one of the biggest tools that give us that entertainment. It's just also correct that the government would be able to benefit from it, increase the taxes to increase their revenue as the economy has been struggling due to covid-19.

10% is not that huge, why not give it to the government?

I have seen a lot much higher percentage of tax in gambling from other countries. So yes, 10% is not that much, and they will not go bankrupt if they will pay that to their government. After all, during this pandemic, online gambling is one of the industries that really do survive. People are stuck at their homes and one way that they got into is online gambling. If they can afford to gamble, it means they have enough money to spend on this entertainment. And that gambling casino should not be so tight in sharing their income to the government.

Those proposal might be good on bigger gambling operations, but not good for online platform. On my personal views here, we can only figure our certain aspects that totally be done for licenced operation. Conflict towards public is the reason why tax is implemented in serious basis, though with online betting I think charges will only applies for transaction fees.

10% taken from just profits might be ok but 10% taken out of revenue would be possibly a reason for that business to close and lose considerably to competitors.  It depends how its administrated, far better if they take a low amount of 1% but allow gambling to raise its revenues by 10x the amount thereby resulting in the same net contribution to the governments fiscal budget.   Also I'd mention regularity, overly harsh taxation will lead to short term gains but the tax will fall year on year as its not possible to continue, there is no option of right or wrong here just governments must be sensible in recognizing the world of betting is global and their populations are not captive in their spending habits.  
   Quite a few governments only work well for a few years because they are unable to foster growth in their economies, the biggest reason is very often interference with free commerce.

It is not only about decent or pleasing service now, it may not even be pleasing service if the tax collected from winners/punters is too high, what makes a service pleasing is the net gain after winning and also about the intrinsic services provided. If no kyc crypto gambling sites are also decent and pleasing, many people can leave the high tax gambling sites to no kyc crypto ones that do not demand for tax.

I don't know why some people are worried about tax on gambling sites, isn't it taxes are for casinos only and not on the gamblers. I mean, they are the ones who are making money, most gamblers are spending money just to be entertained, so we don't pay taxes on entertainment, I think that makes sense, right?

I do not know what you meant by this, but you either meant that only gambling companies will pay tax? Or most gamblers would have lost while losses will first be deducted before paying tax? Yes about this second one. But taxes in gambling industry depends on the governmental laws and policies towards gambling, there are some countries that only the gambling companies that provide gambling services will only be the ones to pay while punters will not pay any tax irrespective of any gain they made, but there are countries in which the punters will have to pay tax of any net gain, which means if the gamblers is losing already, he will not have to pay until he gained back all his losses.

Know that they will for sure to allot those taxes in their new gees or prices since its a additional operating cost. The casino will sure to be tax but where they will get the payment? Probably to their users that they can charge thru their players or thru requiring some minimum value in playing to take care of the fees including tax sin e all online activities were banked now.

And I agree with you a 10% tax is reasonable and in fact where I live the tax is way higher, casinos in my country will do anything to get such a low tax placed on them unfortunately this is not possible, and when we take into account the difficult situation that countries are in because of the pandemic then it makes sense they want to raise the taxes, now this is unpopular everywhere but to me is way better that countries raise taxes than the alternative which is that they print more money.

Alteration of percentage would vary on each government because not all government would have the same decision when it comes to this and 10% is just really reasonable even here on my
country they do impose 12% when it comes to tax but i dont know if other businesses or industries would have been implementing on the same level or way more higher and since im not really
that keen on checking out those information then it might be just the same or higher or something like that. Thing here is that taxation would really turn out to be a default thing because
this is the blood of the economy on a certain country or place and its just impossible for businesses on having no tax at all.

Yes, I meant the gambling sites will be the only ones who will pay taxes and let the gamblers enjoy their winning, and eventually they will still lose it when they come back. it's also easier to track the performance of the casino than the gamblers, and since casinos are profitable, they should only be the one who will pay, this way it will attract gamblers to gamble as they are getting real entertainment without tax liability.

Since the gambling sites must spend more money for the taxes, some people probably feel afraid that many casinos will apply higher transaction fees on the gambling sites. The owners of gambling sites may consider increasing the deposit and withdrawal fees. This way is a reasonable solution to balance the income and expenses of the gambling sites. If this really happens, the gamblers must spend more money to gamble.

you don't understand what you are saying here mate .. because yes the Taxation will only be charge from the site but do you know where will be the site owners will get this taxes?
of course this will drops down to the players , meaning the house edge might increase silently that the gamblers don't even anticipate or in some other ways that operator only knew.

Many gamblers stop playing because of the high tax rate because not everyone can afford it. Ukrainian president vladimir zelensky plans to legalize gambling in the country for which he has raised taxes I think that by increasing the amount of bonus for playing jaya gamblers will be able to play very easily. Enforcement officials follow violators without much encouragement and often cooperate with them and the state simply proposes a gambling tax in ukraine without losing any tax fees.

Sure. We should accept it. We know that increasing the deposit & withdrawal fees is the ultimate way made by the gambling sites. The owners also don't want to increase transaction fees if they have no taxes issue. Also, if they can choose another way, I am sure they probably consider not increase the fees as it can decrease the interest of gamblers to play.

I agree with you, the owners must consider a proper and acceptable increase for the gamblers. If the increase is too high, the gamblers may not come again to the gambling sites. There are too many gambling sites in the world, the gamblers will choose the gambling sites that provide the most affordable transaction fees.

Lol. Gambling is already legalized, you're a little bit late with your news  :D
Casino can be opened at any big hotel in special underground area, or in special places. And i know that some hotels already legalized their grey casinos.

Not sure about the legal status of gambling in Ukraine but I think it is a good step if the president of Ukraine is planning to legalize gambling because people will otherwise gambling illegally and makes no sense for the government to ban gambling when there are ways people can still do it. I am not of the opinion that gambling is a great thing because it makes people lazy but still, people should be able to spend their money the way they wish. A 10% tax sounds reasonable to me because around that is what most of the other countries have if I am not wrong.

https://cms.law/en/int/expert-guides/cms-expert-guide-to-gambling-laws-in-cee/ukraine

On a first view it doesn't seem to be as bad but not as good either. Gambling is allowed and yes there is a structure for the being different for certain activities. The companies operating casinos pay 28% in total, consisting of 18% corporate tax and 10% gambling tax. But they are also responsible to withhold and remit that money players owe as taxes. A lot of administration because there is also another rule:

"the taxation of players: winnings up to eight times the minimum monthly salary (currently UAH 48,000 (ca. EUR 1,400)) exempted from tax, beyond which there is 18% PIT + 1.5% military levy."

Yeah, imagine how cool it must have been to operate a grey/illegal casino and then you get the news that gambling is being legalized. Others will have to set up everything while these illegal ones have things ready lol. I guess most countries will follow on taxation on gambling as governments started realizing the potential revenue they could gain out of making gambling legal rather than being unable to control all gambling activities when gambling is not being run with the support of law.

The issue they are not considering is that while traditional casinos are still a thing now online casinos are way more popular thanks to the pandemic, they are cheaper to run and can offer better bonuses to their clients which means that the owner of the casino can establish his casino in any jurisdiction that he may like in which this is easy and the taxes are low and still attract those local players and they can avoid paying those taxes that way, so despite the taxes being low at the same time it is doubtful how many online casinos will actually pay them.

In Ukraine you just keep running your illegal casino, because the process of legalization is much more complicated than just keep everything as is. Not joke, real situation.


Yep. And this people, which running illegal casinos will open new, legal ones in hotels and special places. And still running their illegal counterparts.

In fact it is not as obvious as you are making it seem, many illegal casinos may choose to remain that way as they will not have to follow any guideline regarding the fairness of their games or the security of their clients and even more importantly they may not like to pay the tax, in fact this is similar to what we see with prostitution, in the countries in which it has been made legal many people still refuse to do it legally as they will be taxed and they will have to reveal their status as prostitutes, which has a huge stigma no matter where you live.

As noted above, only a very simple and transparent law will work, since the Ukrainian political system has long since rotted away, a system that is only meant to replenish the already fat pockets of oligarchs. There are really a lot of bookmakers in Ukraine, and I think probably even more than in England, but the highlight is that no matter what tax you set, the Ukrainian Tax Service has absolutely no resources to keep at least most of the bookmakers in check ...

In terms of taxation, Ukraine is a very "comfortable" country. The latest innovations related to the turnover of cryptocurrency - 10% tax rate on income from transactions with cryptocurrency is very soft! Plus, the tax system in Ukraine is also quite soft in relation to private entrepreneurship. For example, working in the IT field, as a private entrepreneur, I pay only 5% of the turnover! Or I can choose a different scheme - 3% + VAT 20% (as you understand this is value added tax, which, in fact, is simply added during the formation of the value, but requires additional accounting).
Regarding the gambling business, there is already a legislative base, there are special conditions, the market is being formalized and rebuilt after an unstable situation with this sector

Why is the taxes shouldered by the gamblers? Shouldn't the gambling house be the one that's shouldering those things? Afaik, gambling shouldn't have any taxes when you're a player, either the chips got more expensive than the last but the players won't be directly involved with taxes.

Let me disagree! If we take Kiev, for example, then most of the unofficial, semi-official and even official (which fell under the legal restriction) casinos, gambling halls and other things were CLOSED! Now there are a lot of premises on the first floors, they still wear the exterior decoration of the gaming halls, but they are already empty, and the premises are being rented / sold en masse. I will not say that this is a 100% process, but 90% + is still closed!
Not so long ago, I noticed the opening of a small game room disguised as a computer club (Kiev, in the Darnitsa area) - he called a police squad, a few days later the room was empty ...

This makes absolutely no sense and will clearly flop if implemented.

They think that this is enforceable in the long run but it really isn't - people will simply move to underground/black markets to get their bets processed.

I thought that Ukraine was somewhat progressive when it comes to these things given their recent attitude towards crypto - but I guess I thought wrong.

I think gambling house have separate taxes to pay and it seems that they are targeting the gamblers since they can still generate an income if they win a profit from playing that's why some government think about taxing them. But if we really think deeply they shouldn't do this since imagine its huge burden to the gamblers since they are already losing a few bucks for the tax implemented and how much more if they are playing on their bad days for sure they will struggle to recover since taxes taken is already make the life of gambler more heavier.

The legalization of such business areas (gambling) assumes a situation where both parties receive the expected benefits. But what happened in Ukraine until recently was a mess! It was possible, without any permits, to "quietly" rent a room, put gaming machines there, and without paying a penny of taxes, get very high profits! If we take as 100% all the gambling halls that were in Ukraine earlier, then approximately 50-70% existed actually outside the laws and registrations! And it shouldn't be like that - everyone pays taxes, everyone works openly. Moreover, such illegal gambling halls as a rule "belonged" to deputies, high officials in law enforcement agencies, and the like. individuals who, moreover, used their official position for illegal enrichment!

I think this ordinance will work well for Ukraine's economy considering they ranked #40 among Top 100 countries when it comes to game revenues from gambling sessions. I couldn't see why they took some time to post this bill to the respective authorities as it could work well for the country economically, and individually. I'm supposing imposing higher tax rates for every winnings or stakings will discourage people who would gamble for the winnings and not because they want to relax, therefore saving them all the trouble and hassle losing money you can't afford brings. This makes sense. Thanks for putting this into perspective. I guess along with this, there should be extensive operations to whittle down, if not completely eradicate illegal gambling operations within the country. Otherwise, as you have said, people will just resort to black market operations to have their bets made which is not good of course. These two activities should go hand-in-hand, matter of fact they should focus more on eradicating illegal gambling operations on their country in the first place.

Ukraine is not going to tax online gambling sites, which is an impossible task as there are many safe heavens they can move to. The tax will be levied on offline gambling casinos and stores and there is nothing is in taxing these casinos, as mentioned above by DrBeer there was no taxes levied upon them earlier and anyone could operate a casino and now they wanted to tax them and it is normal.

Will they be able to catch also those that are doing it privately? there's no tax with that, there's no need for registration and it's not only happening in Ukraine.
Because in most countries, there are those silent places where people can gamble without worrying about taxation and registrations.

And those are mostly done underground or even the worst on where those places are ran by the government itself thats why they cant really able easily be taken down.

Its just normal that taxation would really be asked out since any business isnt really exempted for this one.Everybody should be obliged to pay up taxes but there are

businesses who do really skip out on doing so neither for personal reasons or just simply they dont like to pay up taxes.

If it's tipped to the authorities then those gambling operators working in the dark will be apprehended and catch.

But like in any other country too, there is dirty money. It means those gambling operators that are not a registered businesses are giving money to the high person or official to keeps their company running without paying a tax.

In other words, CORRUPTION.

I will clarify a little about the tax scheme that works in Ukraine. Gambling business taxation includes fees and taxes from companies that organize offline / online platforms and are responsible for organizing and providing these services to consumers. At this stage, the attractiveness of organizing such a business lies in tax holidays and low taxes.
For the player - he does not pay any taxes, receiving the winnings on such a site. The player may have tax liabilities only in the country of which he is a citizen, if there is such legislation in the country and the player himself has a conscience :) The only potentially "unpleasant" moment may be the requirement to pass the KYC. Well, the interaction of the site with the fiscal structures of different countries - but this is usually in the case of major financial crimes.

Let's start with the fact that no matter how attractive the taxation of the gambling business in Ukraine is, all bookmakers are still black bookmakers instead of buying a license. There are thousands of bookmakers in Ukraine, and I know only one bookmaker that has a state license (the cost of the license is a little over $ 6 million, or 30 thousand minimum wages). So attractiveness is out of the question ... considering that no one cares about the interests of the players.

If Ukraine did not tax them before and just now, I don't see anything wrong with this, if you are operating a business and you are making a profit
from your business, it's just right that the government to impose a tax on your business, these casinos are lucky then that they experienced free taxes all these years and now it's time for the government to tax them to sustain government funding, government get their funding from taxing its people and business, it's basic.

I agree with you, especially that this industry have a significant demand, and so taxation on revenues must be done to support government programs. Just like any other business, I think it is reasonable for casinos to be taxed since the amount of their revenues are quite high. Thus, this calls for balancing the economy thru redistribution of wealth for public benefit through government initiatives. Also, this encourages establishments to follow regulations and operate legally.

In recent time we have some very good rise in gambling activities just because of this many countries are now working on this as they understand this could be great source for them to increase income even many punters losing this field due to these taxes but still addiction is on and for few they want to have some big in quick time with this as its all-time opportunity available for every one.

In gambling few feel tax must be not high as this is also problem for few because they don't want to pay big amount even they are paying this from their win, authorities need to take some better and soft policies about this.

With the accordance and response to the pandemic, most of the countries needed to take every source for additional budget of their government. And that's maybe one of the reason they've suddenly came up with it.

Yes, if a business profits, they should tax it.

All over the world, the Covid 19 pandemic gave a powerful impetus to the development of online businesses, different areas of B2B, B2C, and of course the entertainment and games segment. After the lockdown, when access to physical betting sites was simply limited, the growth of online channels immediately began for the existing physical sites.

You are right. While the country is still lockdown and their people can not freely go to the public area, people use online gambling to continue their gambling activity. Some gamblers search on the fiat gambling site and play on it, while others find the crypto gambling site and use it to gamble. Out of that, online gambling benefits from the lockdown because the site has many new gamblers from many countries.

I couldn't agree more. If it brings in profit tax it. Although, I'm thinking 10% may be sort of too much. How is this going to affect those who visit online casinos. Well, in the next 6months, we'll be back to see how far they have fared.