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I was thinking that many countries are reluctant to legalise certain activities such as gambling, prostitution, smoking, ... and, apart from countries that have strong social and religious restrictions (I refer to those as the death-by-boredom countries) others simply consider than the state should not profit or allow activities that are considered diminishing for the workers or that may harm their health and personal relations (it must be difficult to be an addict to gambling or a prostitute and have a normal life).

However, other countries simply set high taxes to these activities, which I think is a false morality, as if by paying these activities can be less questionable. (Note: I personally do not question regulated gambling).

We can compare it to the usual sin tax which just makes sense that their tax is higher because whatever the circumstances, situations, and even amid the global pandemic, they can generate an insane revenue as activities under it are already part of people's daily social life.

On the other hand, having a high tax was also a formed to discourage people from involving in it although like I mentioned, since it's now a part of people's usual activity, they will found a way to spend money on it e.g liquors, cigarettes, and gambling. Another advantage of this high tax is, illegal gambling operators that don't want to comply with the high tax, will be aggressively shut down by the authorities since the government doesn't have benefits for it. Other operators will be forced to pay the tax for them to make it legal and that will be an advantage to the government.

Can you mention a gambling-friendly country that sets an insane high tax on gambling or the country you are referring here in the subject? Or if you are pointing about the other threads like Nigeria or Ukraine if I remember it right, the government there has its own reason why they decided to put a high tax on it and we can't generally apply it to all other countries.

Whether they do like or not, whether they do ban or impose high taxes then these things cant really be stopped no matter what and if its prohibited then they would just simply go underground
or decided not to be traceable or something like that. Even if they would be taxed up high then it would be still able for them to pay and as a government and not relying about religious aspects
then you would see the brighter side about those taxes accumulated and you would mind much about your citizens situation in terms on involving into those things.

I definitely agree. I may not call it a false morality, though. In the first place, the state is not saying gambling is now better because it gives more revenue. It is simply implementing a mechanism which will hopefully curb the proliferation of gambling. It simply tries to discourage gambling.

However, I will also question its effectivity. In the end, increasing gambling taxes would only widen the gap between the privileged and the poor. Gambling does not transform into a good thing. It would only become a luxury which only the rich can afford. Is there something wrong with it? I guess it does not sound right to say, "only you can do this bad thing because you've got the money."

A country with poor governance is liable to have higher rates of gamblers most especially with inflation skyrocketed. In such situations people look for means of survival and therefore might not give much attention to government restrictions since the same government can't make the life fair for it's citizens. Imagine biting a child and asking the child not to cry. Most of the addiction from gambling and other social vices is as a result of the same people in authority depriving their subject the right to good existence.

Legalizing most of this encourages hoodlums and touts in a any society and also make it looks as if the government aren't trying enough for it's citizens. It could also cause harm and depression to the citizens mostly when things goes wrong or when the target is quite difficult to hit. This activities has in the past caused series of deformities in the life's of it's victim there by making the society a sort of joke and I believe this could be one of the reasons government in most society decides to place restrictions on them.

There are many reasons why they make all these illegal with some given circumstances, you don't want your family member to be among the people who got into these activities. Tobacco, Prostitution, and Gambling are done underground if they are not going to make it legal, there will be no way for the government to make money out of it if it's going to be still illegal.

So in order for the operators to conduct business legally,  the government has to make money. Fair trade.

I don't think it's false morality, but rather a pragmatic issue. Prostitution and gambling have existed since time immemorial and if you prohibit them what you are doing is putting the people who frequent those worlds in even more danger. Look at what happened with Prohibition. If you are a secular state it is better to offer a legal framework, and collect taxes, otherwise these businesses are run by mafias who will not pay taxes.

What is better? That gambling and prostitution be controlled by the government and controlled by the mafias?

For me the decision is clear.

In an ideal world nobody would gamble, or prostitute themselves, or take drugs, or play sports, or read books... but we are in the real world.

Research about rules, laws and regulations in your nation. If you don't want to be in jail because your break laws, DYOR before you start.

I know the advise sounds stupid because it is very basic but people don't mind to read ToS on platforms they will use and store their capital. Capital should never be stored on gambling sites too long. Because they can be shut down by governments.

In some nations, gaming is not legal so online and crypto gambling site are not allowed.

I actually like countries regulating gambling instead of straight out banning it. After all, has banning gambling done anything? Maybe in the short run, but in the long run? Nah, that thing's just gonna be a long-ass sentence about bans and stuff and people would probably still be able to find ways to gamble if they really wanted to, not to mention that creating a gambling den in a banned country would probably bring in more profits for them.

Regulated gambling conditions basically allow the country to put the business in their hands, man handle it and what not. They can assure that it's within limits and wouldn't exceed past that.

Taxes on gambling send the right message? The answer is not, even though goverment have a goal to reduce their citizens from gambling but in my opinion it is the amount of money that can be obtained from the gambling tax that makes the state take high taxes, and high taxes will not reduce asking gamblers to continue gambling.

And this is backed up by corrupt officials because they see a large circulation of money

About gambling, I was an addicted before, I first gambled in 2014, I remembered to first win my first bet that I just took it without professionalism. But at the time I was additced until 2019 when I lost money and properties to the extent I wish my life to be taking. It was just hard to kill myself at the time but I wish me dead, I really know how deadly gambling addiction is. I really got no hope again until I stopped gambling, I later got source of income and not even gambling again, even if I want to gamble now, I use 2% of my monthly salary to gamble or not gambling at all.

As to your question, in my high opinion, taxes on gambling do not send the right message at all. The tax collected are mostly from the betting companies. The reason is that the betting companies are the one gaining while the gamblers are losing.

Did you know most gamblers do not know about taxes paid by gamblers? The reason is because most gamblers are losing than winning. Before tax can be deducted from their winning, all there losses will be calculated, if the losses is more than the winning, no tax will be deducted. I believe this is the gambling policy in almost all countries that gambling is allowed.

If the gamblers are not paying taxes (because of losses), how does increasing the gambling tax send the right message? It does not because gamblers are not still yet paying because they lose than win. While the gambling companies are increasing in wealth and able to pay their taxes.

this is the reality of life and yes, regulating is better than totally banning their existence. it has been here ever since. if the government will be hypocrite and decide to wipe these kind of businesses, those activities will just go underground and the govt will not get anything from it. so yeah, it is better if such activities are under the government control. at least the money that they can get can be of good use to govt initiatives.

This is the focus of government, to direct people to normal life through regulations and penalties for defaulters. Some religious countries try to wipe their system off from those activities you mentioned and there won't be any need for tasking on them. However, the Countries that have not been strict on then, the liberal countries would have them tasked because they give chance for you to make a choice and be liable to its penalties.

I've heard discussions about gambling taxes, cigarettes by the government, this is outside the tax rules set by the state.

The reason the government raises high tax rates on the gambling and cigarette industries, they receive a lot of complaints from various media, hospitals, rehabilitation of the biggest cases the cause is gambling and cigarettes.

In fact, the government has raised tax rates for the gambling and cigarette industries more than the industry thought, The goal is to reduce people's involvement in gambling and prevent people from smoking cigarettes, even worse, the industry applies it all to addicts, in the end people continue to gamble and smoke, don't stop, they buy in small quantities / also gamble in small amounts.

The effect that arises from high taxes does not actually create a deterrent effect on addicts, it is considered normal, Thus the tax that is set does not make the morale of addicts have a negative effect.

I think that's why it is necessary to impose higher taxes on the gambling and cigarette industry, actually the goal is good for the community, but it doesn't have a positive impact on society, it's even worse, beyond expectation.

Like what I previously mentioned in similar topics like these, the power to tax includes the power to destroy. If the tax implemented by the government is higher than the usual rate, then it implies that the government is trying to convince other establishments to avoid creating businesses like this.

There are, however, certain gambling casinos that the government allows. In the Philippines, there is what you call PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) in which it is created by law. It enjoys certain benefits since it brings so much revenue to the government that allows the latter to create certain projects for the benefit of the country.

Illegal gambling activities happen in almost every country. It doesn't really matter what the law says. Gamblers find their way of gambling and with the progress of telecommunications nd internet, it has become even more easier nowadays. Now you don't have to go out of your house to gamble. Just a phone call works splendidly well.

So I see no harm in imposing taxes on gambling activities instead of banning it. Gambling is a business whih generates employment and provides revenue to the government. So it's a wise step to follow which will create a win win situation for gambling business, gamblers and government. Everybody is happy!

In my opinion, only the employees and the casino should taxes . not for users. because gambling doesnt like fix income and if you lose do you have to pay taxes too? I think that would be unfair. they should not just take advantage of other people that making money from gambling. 

Prostitution, smoking, gambling do not make the life of a working person worse if you do not abuse them. If you work (in almost any job) 12-16 hours a day, then this will have a huge negative effect on the body, but this does not mean that any work should be recognized as harmful and taxes immoral.

I'm in favor of heavily taxing everything that causes harm to society.
It isn't a question of morality but of reducing as much as possible the incentives for products and services such as smoking, alcoholic beverages, prostitution and gambling to be consumed.
Because the taxes that are collected there should be used to "remedy" the problems caused by these products and services in people who insist on consuming them.
Of course, on the other hand, its necessary to reduce taxes on basic products and services such as food, medicines, water, energy, and others.

This is a controversial topic and that is just my opinion.

Not morality,,, this has been discussed many times before and it has very little to do with morals or ethics (because that means either you ban it  or not, and what kinds of rules you allow for them).

This is simply to recognize that gambling is an industry that brings in revenue,,, and that you must also tax it more because of the harm it does upon society. We all love gambling here but the sad part is that a lot of people get addicted to it.

because every country has a constitutional law method based on state law. and based on certain ethnic laws that apply rules that gambling, prostitution, and other things that are considered criminal are the most important threats in enforcing institutional law.
while in other parts of the country as we know gambling in Japan has become the ancestral tradition of their ancestors. and it is mandated in the tradition which is very commonly held.

No matter how the government tax vices and regulate gambling, it won't stop the people from doing things that they like. People will always find ways to pursue the things that will satisfy them. Even in most religious countries that ban alcohol, cigarette, and gambling, the black market still continuously producing the demand of the users as well as the gamblers. Tax won't hinder or stop people from doing things that they like.

I think high taxation doesn't send the right message, because it doesn't work as it was supposed when theoreticians first imagined it. High taxation over gambling just creates an informal market of illegal casinos that will offer better playing conditions for average citizens, while the legalized ones will have only wealthy citizens as customers.
For this reason a fair taxation is enough and brings everyone together in a legalized environment where no one will be putting themselves in risk when gambling. Theoreticians who create such stupid rules should keep in mind they just can't forbid people from playing.

Like most of the time with the governments that is the impression they want to give, that they are sending the right message by taxing so harshly things like gambling, tobacco and alcohol, but they do it simply because they can get away with it, the taxes they charge to those industries will sink many other industries but since those companies produce enormous profits they can do it and get away with it, and even if governments actually wanted to restrict access to those activities and even if they were willing to invest the money necessary to do so we know what happened at the US when they tried to ban alcohol and governments do not want to repeat that same mistake again.

With a high gambling tax it's going to make people think twice about their gambling activities but at the same time I have to agree with some of the posts mentioned above, it seems like there's no good solution in stopping gambling when there's so many ways to do it. At the end of it all might as well gain something out of it by putting a high tax, it might not be an effective solution to stop gambling but when you look at the overall picture it's better to have casinos around knowing they could somehow boost the economy.

You forgot the main point. There are some countries or states where gambling is illegal because gambling does somewhat affect the crime rate. It is said that gambling causes some people to get involved with criminals. Again, there are people that would do anything to fulfil their gambling addiction. Most of the government knows that if they make gambling illegal, people will move underground and it will make things far more worse than it is now. So why not just regulate it and put high tax. It's a total win win situation.

prostitution should be prohibited and then they can tax high with smoking because this is what countries are doing now but for gambling they should allow this and only ban those that are illegal.
 gambling is not bad in the health compare to the two but it has  benefits if done right  . taxes in gambling can help tho on improving the country but it should be done accordingly

I think that taxes are a way for people to "pay" their way to accessing "illegal" content for most of the time, though I know some other people will disagree with this thought. I won't go so far as saying gambling is immoral, it's just that some other religions are against it, and we have our differences when it comes to culture and whatnot. Taxing this industry is, IMO, a neutral thing since the money can be used to fund other government projects that can help better the lives of the society.

I don’t understand at all this idea “to stifle gambling with high taxes or other measures” - why do this? If a person is having fun and does not violate anyone's rights, then this is his own business and the state should not interfere. If we are talking about addiction and abuse, then this is a completely different question.

Tax is something legal and if more regulation on tax can bring Bitcoin to mainstream then legal tender nation-wide or globally, I support it.

In short term, it can cause chaotic and fearful period in the market. Fortunately, in long term, when things are settled down and people are familiar with tax on their crypto investment, trading, gambling, the crypto adoption will be bigger.

Tax is one of contributions from cryptocurrency market and crypto gambling industry to society. I see it as a good one.

When you allow such things (prostitution, smoking, gambling) , people just overdo it (because they get addicted) and the place becomes a shit hole at the end of the day.

Maybe like Las Vegas where it is allowed to gamble, people should build other places like Las Vegas where it is allowed to smoke or bang them bitchez. That would work.

I agree, it is as if people have this innate nature of abusing things that they were given privilege to have and to do. In my opinion, it is possible that when other countries that set high taxes for activities like gambling, smoking and prostitution, they are doing it to discourage people from pursuing it through the use of financial constraint.

This is an interesting topic/point you're making here.  I live in the United States which has been rapidly becoming more open to legalized gambling.  My state just this past year legalized gambling. If something is legalized, then why should it be double or triple taxed just because some people deem it to be bad or harmful or whatever.  It really is stupid when you think about it.

A lot of money is involved in gambling, it's inevitable for them to not interfere knowing it could be a good financial source to the government.

You're not wrong though it's a good source of entertainment but like what mindrust said if nothing is done then it could easily get out of hand and it'll start to affect others so taxes is like the middle ground.

I don't think the government really cares about the health of its citizens. This multi-billion dollar shadow market in drugs, weapons, prostitution, etc. is under the influence of various criminal gangs that work closely with the authorities. So it makes no sense for them to legalize this market.

I think that taxes should not be a regulator of people's activities - they are only needed for the state to have the means to function. Roughly speaking, a tax is a fee for using the infrastructure. But when the state begins to decide for the people what is bad and what is good and to introduce taxes on these grounds, then this raises serious questions about the adequacy of such actions.

Hard to say, there's countries out there that don't tax money made from gambling, but they have a significant regulated approach by assuring that the gambling companies are licensed, and conform to certain rules. So, its entirely possible to not tax winnings from gambling, while promoting a healthy view point on gambling by making sure that gambling companies basically stick to the rules.

UK for example, don't tax you on your winnings from gambling. Gambling is considered a recreational activity. However, they are monitored by the gambling commission which assures they are following the rules, and are only providing a service to those that they are licensed for. If a US resident wanted to gamble on a UK based site, and the UK based site had the correct license to allow that, the US resident would still have to provide their earnings to the tax man over in the USA, assuming that their winnings are taxed over there or if its illegal in their state, then they can't legally gamble through the UK site, even if the UK site allows USA residents. Usually though, this is documented within their terms of service, which includes what states they allow.

Personally I think that religion is a relic of history that should be consigned to the rubbish bin - it should not be influencing rational and logical decisions today. It had a place for comforting people and building some basic laws for society, however we have now advanced far beyond the need for it. Man can judge man, based on changing moral codes and scientific knowledge (smoking used to be "cool" before we really knew the long term damage it could do). Gambling should be treated like any other entertainment business and taxed accordingly. The one thing that I think governments are too lenient on is helping problem gamblers - if someone identifies that they have uncontrollable urges there should be a country, if not worldwide, system that they can click a button to ban themselves for a certain period of time - 3 months, 6 months, 5 years, whatever. The person is taking responsibility and self excluding, the tools to protect them should be there.

For me this have two faces like negative and positive effect. If we will going to look on the negative side of this is that it might sound like implementing a high taxes on the gambling businesses or even in alcohol and cigarettes may sound rude at first but after all it is only implemented for the seek of people, I mean those people that are engaged in such doings are those very affected but it could boost the economy. While on the other hand, even implementation of high taxes didn't stop those people who are really into gambling or smoking and that is proven.

You mean "sake" of people? which is definitely true but that would really be definitely depending on how those taxes would be used up because not all government would really be having that kind of intent.

Not all government is really honest into their service and wouldn't be sure if they would corrupt it out or would really apply it for the sake of economic progress or enhancing it.

Yes, it might sound too much but those things are for the good and also addicted people will do engage into things that they've been addicted into.

A high tax could prevent people from getting addicted by giving them fewer chances to gamble if it is their real intention but the current gambling addicts are the ones who will be affected especially if they don't really care about the tax they pay for each of the session they attend. It would be a real burden to them and the long-term effect might be good or bad knowing that they can easily go bankrupt in gambling and adding high taxes will make a toll on them.

Dubai, as a part of UAE has strong social restrictions. But i would not call this city as "death-by-boredom"



such business as gambling, has very low operational and investment cost, but enough big ROI. It's like "You invest 1 dollar and in result get 10". And because of grey morality of such businesses, government think that it will be not the worst idea to take higher taxes. So now you just get not 10 dollars in return, but 2. Fair enough as for me

It is because those countries are also discouraging their people to gamble and that's a double purpose for taxing them high. They get to stop those that are unable and get a huge taxation from doing so.

And that only means that only those people that has the capacity to gamble can remain to gamble even if they set the taxes high or the standards high. AFAIK, there's a country that only allows foreigners on their jurisdiction to gamble and not their citizens.

Whatever reason the government has for imposing gambling tax on its citizens, afaik this can never deter people from this, maybe its trying to keep its citizens morally upright and preventing people from being gambling addicts or suppose some kind of religious reasons which could be right reasons but I think some governments have realized it's a good money making venture.

Tax shouldn't act as a way of persuading someone not to do something, even if that is gambling. Taxes should only be introduced where necessary, and while I would assume a lot of people would argue they are included in a lot of places where they are not necessary, they are generally for contributing to the community. For example, in the UK we have the national health service (NHS) which tax money goes towards, as well as road maintenance, and all that good stuff. Taxing gambling wouldn't make much sense, when we already get taxed enough on our income. We have a tax free allowance up to around 12k ish, and then from then on out we pay 20%, 40%, and 45% dependent on how much we earn. I know in the USA tax works difference, and in general you guys get taxed a lot less, mainly due to not having a public health service, at least a tax paid one.

In fact, you don't usually get taxed on losses at all, since it wouldn't make much sense. So, how would losing money on gambling be eligible for tax in the first place? They would only be taxing successful gamblers, not the opposite way around.

It is obvious that many countries are torn between altogether prohibiting immoral activities such as prostitution and gambling and just allowing them but with regulations because they would still exist anyway. They would rather decriminalize these activities, tax them, make sure it is not abused, etc. But it is still not sending the right message. It is sending the very wrong message, that people are allowed to engage in these immoral activities for as long as the price is right.

I mean, gambling tax helps the country so technically, people playing/gambling actually helps the country. And morally upright? Whoever dictated that gambling was moral or not? That's just a subjective bias imo, gamblers aren't addicts immediately, it's a process and it's up to proper management of both the gambling company and the person himself to not turn into one. And again, if the problem is people actually turning into addicts, it's not the companies fault, it's the person's fault. It's similar to saying that a person was the killer since he had the knife, but is that the truth of it all?

If the government thinks that their people can abuse the system or regulations, it is better they prohibit and do not allow their people to gamble or prostitute and those who break that will get punishment.
But the government needs to push the other business to contribute to the taxes if they prohibit gambling in their country because the tax can help the country grow.
Maybe the government needs to discuss with all business owners, including the gambling business owner so the message can deliver correctly.

Taxation can't stop an addict from going about that which he/she is addicted to instead it would make such to device means of meeting up the demands so as to continue his activities and would seek legalisation in return for his tax so he can go about his business without restrictions there by causing more economic and societal crimes by this said addicts.

The concept of morality is quite different for everyone; moreover, the law does not operate with such concepts. You have the right to do anything, even immoral from someone's point of view, if it does not violate the law. Another thing is that in such areas it is quite difficult to draw the line of legality, since the interests of many people are intertwined there and the free actions of some people can infringe on the rights of other people.

Whom the government will tax? is it the operators only or including the gamblers?

If they'll include the gamblers, then I guess people will not choose to gamble on a regulated platform, the revenue will decrease and the government will collect fewer taxes. However, there's no assurance that these people will stop gambling, they'll just find another alternative to gamble and that's for sure an illegal casino.

In the US it is definitely a case of morality I believe,,, thanks to the large religious influence here. But as I said above, this is a vice we are talking about. Gambling and alcohol are known as vices, because they also bring a large impact on society (let us admit it we all know some guy who gambled his life away).

It is not about being bad or good. The extra taxes help to pay for rehab which the state bears as a result of vice consequence.

For big countries, I think taxes is on operators and the gamblers, though it looks complicated but the government would always want to benefit on the winners. With the proper tax guidelines, accounting would be easy and you can ask your accountant to compute your tax liability.

I don't know because it works in big countries, so I don't think it will not work with other countries.

It is the duty of the government of any nation to do things and make rules and decisions with the interest/benefit of the people at heart. Having analysed the socio-economic life of its Citizens, some governments are aware that if they do not set high taxes and regulations against some vices like gambling, prostitution and some other things tagged as illegal, these things have the ability to topple a moral society.

The government is still aware that regardless of their regulations against certain activities like gambling, prostitution and others, these activities still go on as most of its citizens do not care and are ready to go against the law for it...so in a bid to control it, here's a rhetorical question, "why not make it legal and then impose a huge tax on it?" In order to gain from those who can pay the tax and discourage others who cannot pay the tax to not continue.

Maybe because big countries are more strict in implementing their taxes and they have a good tax program that would really help their country to grow. Gambling is a lucrative business, so it deserves high taxes, and they can really force the operators to pay due to their serious penalty for violators.



We never know, in rich countries, it's easy for people to gamble as they are not in poverty, but in poor countries where poverty is high, gambling should be a problem as some people is not educated and they are not aware of their chances and even the risk.

I mean there's nothing wrong with any of those activities it's just that the industry like prostitution is unregulated meaning that STDs can be passed around much faster because it's unregulated but maybe if they copy what Las Vegas did with these things, they might be able to make a lot of money out of this things since there's a guarantee of patronage of this things.

In some countries gambling is against the law of the country and against the law of God, these are Muslim countries and they'll stick with what they believe. Despite that, there are still people who gamble but we can't expect that the government will one day regulate gambling because when it's against the law of God, it cannot be changed, that will stay forever.

For other countries, they don't regulate gambling much but they are also not active in going after illegal gambling, so most likely it's a corrupt country that officials and authorities just want to make money to satisfy their personal wants.

The bottom line, people will find a way to do something they want, legal or illegal, with or without the law of GOD, it doesn't matter. So we have countries where many things are forbidden, we have countries where people can freely enjoy all life pleasures! For me that's crazy, I think this world, the entire world should be open and free for all! Like this, we will have people who will get arrested and go to jail simply because they wanted to enjoy something, without hurting anyone around!

Anyway, I am not sure what God has with gambling... it's just a game, and whoever likes to play should be free to play!

That's why people have different religions because have different beliefs, for a country that most populations are Muslims, their laws of the land are based on the law of their God, we can't change that as that's why they believe even from the beginning. For us, gambling is just entertainment, but for them, it's a sin, we just have to respect that.

And you still don't get it? I respect everyone, what you do is your own business, but those Muslims and others made laws that are against our human nature! Why they don't respect us? Why do they seek to punish us because we are doing something we like, something that's just entertainment for us? Why they don't let us be, instead they are trying to change us to look like them? I wish to be free, and to enjoy life... and I bet many people there want's that too, but they can't!

Op should not expect every country to legalise gambling. Most countries especially the developing countries believe that supporting gambling activities can triggers unethical behavior for their citizens which could result to illegal practices. Some of these countries still end up over tasking gambling companies in the bide of reducing the later effects of gambling on the society. To me, gambling should not been as an evil practices which is the misconceptions of most people towards gambling activities. High revenues are being generated from gambling companies and later the society will frown at it as if the government is not aware of their activities.

It is a form of discouraging people from launching a gambling site and for people to stop gambling because of the high cost of setting up and playing in casinos is indeed a false morality you still cannot stop people from gambling, rich people will ignore the cost but those average joes who want to play will have to find ways to sustain their cost of playing in the casinos, they are not punishing the rich players but the average players, who will bear the high cost of playing.

Rich gamblers can always play at their own terms. Their least worry maybe the tax.
And it is true, those average joe are the ones who are affected by such high percentage of tax.
But if you are a regular gambler, you usually don't worry about those things.
The important is you are playing. Just like a smoker, he doesn't care if the price per stick is already expensive.
And if you are the owner of the casino, you should have assessed those kind of bottlenecks.
Definitely, tax is one of the aspects you should take care of in order for your business to stay in the industry.

I don't understand why it would be more difficult to have a "normal life" as you say while being addict to gambling than with other addictions. The only danger in gambling addiction is the bankruptcy, but if you haven't a bad money management and don't play at rigged games, it's totally safe.

I agree with you but that could happen to someone if he played gambling before and always come to the casino.
When he became addicted to gambling, he starts to ruin his "normal life" because all of what he thinks will be only playing gambling and not trying to stop and introspect if what he did is right or wrong.
The bankruptcy will come to that person when he did not see how much money he has already lost.
But I am sure if they realize the danger of playing gambling, that people deserve to have a second chance to change his life.

And yet, government still find a way to make those people go to jail if they can't earn money from them but if it is legal then no worries being put to jail as it is legal anyway. Recently, four of my neighbours has been put to jail because of gambling even if it's just outside the house.

Each country have their own reason why gamble is illegal or legal. In my country, it is illegal to gamble if it is not authorised by the government. That is their way to respect one of the religion in my country as gambling is not legal in the law of God. You can ask other countries that doesn't ban gambling what are their reasons and also ask those who ban or won't accept gambling as legal. You'll see the reasons behind. In Roman Catholic, gambling is a sin in the law of God and government respected the religion but still people are gambling underground or cannot be seen easily unless someone reported them.

They let these things at the heart of Amsterdam and the place was very close to be a shit hole last time I visited. That's the capital city of the Netherlands. As much as I liked my visit there, I thought about those people who actually live there and I decided that it is probably not a pleasant experience. The place was very crowded, people were pissing on the streets, vomiting, banging them bitchez, people sneaking on you and asking if you need coke... All kinds of shit like this.

They are lying this is a very bad alibi telling people that they are imposing taxes so people will not gamble, they just want poor people not to play or discourage but richer people can afford that, they cannot keep people from gambling rich or poor they just make it hard for them but stopping people to gamble is just impossible, if the country is under democratic jurisdiction.

That could be the intention and I think that is good, when you say poor, these people are struggling in life financially and they are not living a comfortable life, so why would they still gamble? It's very irresponsible and the government is just trying to solve the poverty problem by discouraging them.

The problem with the poor is that they gamble for income, while the rich who understand the risk and their chances gamble for fun only, so they will still live their life without worrying about their losses.

Very true. There are two things going on right now and both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Legalize Gambling but impose high taxes: Makes people gamble legally by paying taxes but it does allow people to gamble and although I don't oppose gambling, we all know overall it brings more harm than good for the gambler.

Ban Gambling: This sets a good example that the government doesn't allow anything that hurts their citizens but at the same time promotes illegal gambling and makes people think like they are being controlled by a dictator.

The reason why some countries (most especially the Muslim countries) deemed gambling as sin is because some people will be addicted to it and lead to depression and what can result to loss of properties. If a lane man see the reason to why gambling is seen as a sin and just have fun with gambling while using only the money he can afford to lose and not affected emotionally by the loss and happy when gains, then gambling is not a sin.

I do not see any reason why you specified about third world country, the western countries are more developed and gain from taxes than the third world countries because they are richer.

How safe is it if you become a gambling addict and can easily control gambling when all these temptations are not realized? Even taxes never remind you to pay gambling bills for a month. but you are the one who warns the tax collector to increase the limit.

It's starting to be ridiculous when gambling has to be taxed, even if you are tired of playing, you have to still pay taxes?

Based on what you have shared, I think this is some of the many reasons why taxes, to be used on the distribution of wealth, income and provide better living condition for the nation, must be implemented. Although in this particular scenario, I think that business permit and surveillance and monitoring system to have safe public spaces are crucial. Considering that these are happening on a capital city, and around the communities, such activities must be closely regulated by the authorities.

I agree.

But I think it is better that only rich people are the ones who could afford to gamble on legal casinos because if poor people that has no stable income would play gambling to earn money, then the problem about poverty would just become worst for the Government to "solve". The reason behind huge amount of taxes of casinos is because the Government want to take advantage of earning huge money on it while they regulate it.

But nevertheless, poor people always make their own way to gamble that also lead to financial crisis because of too much money being spend on illegal gambling.

I always like to compare the whole impose-high-tax and allow precedently illegal activities issue to teenager-parent relations.
Parents can be very strict and prohibit smoking and alcohol, but that will just lead to kids wanting to violate rules even more and sneaking out to hang out and do all that in, possibly, bad companies.

If the parents are acting not as judgemental, on the other hand, the kids will be more straightforward about their activities and at least the parents will know what they're up to and will be able to control things to some extent.

So by imposing high taxes the governments are simply saying "we'll allow it, but we're not very happy about it". As a result, they gain both control and money. I don't think it's false morality, it's actually the opposite :)

Exactly and I am not someone to speak on religious matters because I am afraid, I might end up upsetting someone but honestly I don't see why some people have a problem with gambling. Being a vegetarian I have more problems with people killing animals than gambling but that doesn't mean I would go on asking others to stop. Doing anything that doesn't bother the society directly and doesn't hurt someone, shouldn't be a problem for anyone.

Taxes on gambling is the right way of stopping people from doing it, in fact. Because you are setting the right example, that people are free to do whatever they want but we don't "encourage" gambling. Simple.

Everyone has the right to agree and disagree on something but banning something because one group doesn't approve it, sounds wrong.

and the funny thing is that there are also many Arabs who gamble in vegas or Macau just because in their country gambling is prohibited...

taxes from gambling have an important role in building a city if it is managed properly, now it depends on our perception of whether gambling is a sin or not, as long as we don't steal or rob to play gambling then I think it's not a sin.

The tax payer are the middle class to lower class because rich people will always do their best no to pay taxes and remember billionaires are not paying any taxes at all? That’s how the system works and in gambling, they can’t totally say that taxes are meant to limit the transactions of many gamblers because they really want to tax them and make money.

Taxes are fine for the developing countries they badly needed it and they see gambling as an opportunity to impose tax, which is already happening in many countries. Though I don’t pay taxes directly but the charges of many casinos, I’m sure tax are already included there.

I agree gamblers will find a legal or illegal way to gamble or avoid the taxes. The anonymity of the crypto ecosystem can help the gamblers to keep gambling on third-party websites not regulated by governments thanks to the cryptocurrencies but they will not be able to increase the turnover due to obvious reasons. Some governments made casino heaven in less known cities to increase social activities and bring foreign tourists to their lands for fun which is a win-win situation for both sides.

Is it a win-win solution between the players and also government?
Sometimes, the government wants to limit the gambling activities done by their citizens by setting high taxes. However, gambling is about money, and money will always make people interested in playing it much. That is why it may not be a matter for many people to keep playing gambling although should pay fr high taxes. Moreover for those who are being in gambling addiction. They may not aware of the taxes anymore.

Have you seen them gambling for real on those places?
It is not only based on our perception but also based from what we're believing that if it's a heavy sin if you're religious. But most of the gamblers don't think of it because they don't worry about their religion. And for the casinos, taxation is always their rival.

That's true they will always find a way to play and gamble and will ignore the cost of playing and if they are losing more than winning, they will even travel from far places just to satisfy their needs to gamble, for rich and those who are hooked to gambling taxes and cost are nothing, it's those responsible gamblers that will have a hard time bearing the cost of the casino owners are charging them.

Financial capacity is one of the differences neither you would play even more or would completely stop neither you had realized your mistake or you dont already have the money to spent.

There would only two possible ways or path you would taking on because not all are not rich enough to play if they wanted to and thats the sad reality.

We do love to gamble but the reality doesnt let us..Good for those who does have lots of money and very sad part for those who cant.

One thing we need to think. There is always a way to get out of the taxation. Gamblers will make use of the platform and avoid taxation. Just think of the gamblers who are all spending on the cryptocurrency accepted gambling platform. Will they be paying the taxes perfectly in a calculated manner. No, maybe 10-20% will be doing it for the sake of taxation by the government. So, taxation can't be an effective way to limit or control gambling.

Definitely think that it's a bit hypocritical.

Also, the taxes simply don't do anything when it comes to deterring people from gambling. All that will happen is that there will be a black market created from all of this where gamblers would go instead of going to regulated casinos.

Is that the better outcome that the government's trying to achieve? I suspect not. So why pursue it?

But the other option seems more beneficial to the government. If they prohibit gambling, gambling activities would still continue illegally. Illegal gambling would still go on. So in order to implement the law against it, the government will have to spend much money for law enforcement. So it is better to just allow gambling for as long as regulations are complied and taxes paid. The government earns money and pursuing illegal gambling activities would be reduced.

The benefit will be on the government because they are fully regulated from all businesses so that is normal if we say that the government will take the money from the business owner.
The business owner must follow their rules to running their business and not trying to create an illegal business or illegal casino because that can attract the government to close their business and takes everything from them.
If the government allows gambling, they will get more taxes from the gambling sector, which means their income will increase.

While at some point i support the banning of gambling yet we must respect peoples decision on this matter and not only the government , if people really wants gambling ?
or they wanted to stay out of it that is something to look at.

And besides there are several countries that strictly imposing the implementation of Gambling Banning but still there are illegal operation from syndicate to still do gambling activities even when restriction is there.

It is really costly to find stop and prosecute these underground gambling casinos, instead of making profit from gambling they will have to spend just stop and prosecute them, but heavy taxes will also force gambling who cannot keep up to go underground so they should not impose very heavy taxes to the point these gambling casinos cannot keep up anymore on it's operation.

If you consider profit from gambling as an income, then you should pay the taxes on your profits. This is similar if you are in trading and you should pay taxes on your gains. If the tax system in your country is good, then there is no reason not to pay taxes.

Since there is house advantage, it is almost impossible to get profit from gambling in the long term. So I would rather tax the gambling businesses rather than taxing the gamblers themselves. That is the strategy used in EU and some of the other countries. For example, winnings from lotteries and casinos are not taxed, because you are already paying your taxes while playing these games. Also, the outcome is very inconsistent. In a particular year, you may win a $10,000 price on lottery tickets that you purchased for $2,000. The next year, you may purchase $20,000 worth of lottery tickets and still get $0 in rewards. So it is not practical to tax these winnings. If winnings are taxed, then losses need to be reimbursed as well.

You are right on the sense that taxes can be used in this way, low or no taxes to encourage something and high taxes to discourage certain behaviors, I have no doubt that many politicians see it this way which is why things like alcohol and gambling have such high taxes, but even then I have no doubts there are many politicians that do not really care and are using this as nothing more but a justification to keep raising taxes to those industries.

I don't understand why the government wants to "protect" its citizens from gambling. Isn't gambling just another means of entertainment and it's much better to ban or impose higher taxes on alcohol than on gambling. If someone has earned money, they should have full control over how they want to spend it, being caring is good but people are mature enough to decide what's wrong and what's good for them.

I am not against taxes on gambling but they must not be absurdly high for the player or criminally demanding from the casino. Gambling addiction is a problem but not everyone who gambles is addicted, in fact, a lot of people who might suicide in stress may relieve themselves by gambling for a few hours.

Well, I agree with the discouraging part and thinking that it is right. I also noticed in my country that they seem implemented a law to raise it high the taxes on the tobacco industry, we know that it is not good health and many manufacturers would suffer and becomes losing interest if they will put high taxes. The same story on gambling, if they will put a high taxes many of the owners will also discourage and do not continue their business until they will stop, now it makes sense to me why they had high taxes.

Man, those persons who make decisions around the tasks that you stated, aren't really stupid. No one is stupid for themselves, they even succeed and become the part of the government, so... But there are a lot of reasons why they do this or that!

When you legalize gambling, prostitution and similar activities, it will cause massive protest in olders and the highest part of society aren't young people. So, in order to win elections, they have to say the things that the majority of people want to hear. If you say that you are going to legalise prostitution in an Orthodox countries, sure, you'll lose a lot of votes in an election. If you legalize gambling, elder people come and say that these casinos are killing new generations and are doing all the evil things for the society... bla bla bla...

When prostitution is illegal, that doesn't mean that the government or some related people aren't earning money. We all know that you'll find dozens of prostitutes in every country, in every place. But it's kept like a secret, prostitutes work secretly, these areas function secretly (in secretly, I mean not loudly). Business owners make the easy money + in some countries they pay police some $$ to keep quiet and ignore/protect them.

Gambling operators will only stop operating if they are losing, high taxes doesn't mean they operate in a losing manner, some can still sustain because they have a lot of clients that is consistently gambling and that means they are bringing money to the business, also, the government will not implement high taxes if they don't find it reasonable as they are also concern on the business to survive.

They need to cooperate casinos should have the best place in the city should be well protected by the government because it is one of the tourist attractions of every country where Casinos are flourishing or well established, they are not only getting taxes from these casinos they are also getting taxes from the services rendered coming from clients of casinos, so they are paying taxes and the government takes care of their need like peace and order.

Of course the government should respect their people's decisions. To gamble or not to gamble is within every citizen's freedom. They should be free to choose whether to gamble or not. But the government should also be looking at the possibilities behind its citizens' decisions and their implications. So much have been taken away from individuals, families, fathers, etc because of gambling. Sanity and lives are lost because of gambling. So there has to be a balance.

as far as i Know ? casino places are one of the most secure and protected place in every country , They even Spending tons of money for their security as they are also prone to illegal act as Money are also flowing in their houses.

So basically if we are talking about safety then casino is one place to be.

That is also in the government as their official are protecting these illegal activities as money are flowing to their pocket .

Lets be real here, even banks get robbed, I reckon casinos wouldn't be any different. Also I would only go for it taking the best spot in the city IF the city itself was a tourist city. If not, then any other "good" option should work, but definitely not the best option available. Plus worrying about their security isn't exactly wrong, most casinos are private establishments so their security is handled by the company itself and not really the city government. If there was a case, naturally the city government would help but the fastest one to take action would still be the local security that the establishment has.

Even pentagon had been hacked of course there are no perfect place to called safe , but at least casino Houses usually installed strategically meaning the place where this is located mostly are those in declared safer from all places on that same area.

Like in many casinos that i come along in which stand in the center of the city where Camps and Police stations are almost very near in any case of security needs.

If they lose their profit because of the high taxes, they can ask the government and ask to reduce the tax because they will show how much their profit and how much they should pay the tax. If the government is wise to the gambling owner, they will consider reducing the tax because they see the fact that the casino is not getting a big profit from their business. The government will try to help the gambling business to operate because the gambling business is one of the sectors that contribute to the taxes.

The activities you've mentioned are all legal except for prostitution for some places and region. They're just taxed really high. Plus, it's not like these businesses are going to lose money due to high taxes, they have a constant customer and they can exactly raise their prices and it won't matter that much for them because their customers will still buy them.

The government taxes are not really hurting the rich people who can always afford to go to casinos because they have spare money for this, but for average guys like us who just want to have the experience to play on casinos it will be costly, but it will minimize average joe's going to these casinos, there are countries that are so dependent on casinos that they provide everything on that country like Macau and Las Vegas, casinos are the best cash cows of many countries because like prostitution is one of oldest profession and vice.

It's a double-edged sword and that too in 2 ways.

The government might have put more taxes in place to just juice out money but it might actually help some people as they won't gamble too much considering the high taxes in place.

The gambler might find illegal ways of gambling because people are smart enough to know that BTC exists and crypto casinos are literally one click away from them. If only they put sound taxes on gambling, people may not search and gamble on illegal platforms.

It does hurt, they just don't tell it, I mean if it doesn't hurt then why go to the lengths or bribing/lobbying these politicians to have their tax contribution much lower and sometimes even zero, they know that if tax is left unchecked, it could take away a really big chunk of their already big paychecks.

Poor or rich, both are required to pay taxes, rich people sometimes just don't feel it because they have a big income and they are good in managing their funds.  The point here is, if you are good in managing your income and expenses, you'll end up profitable, and it's also about the mentality of a certain person, rich and poor doesn't have the same mentality, that's why they are on a different situation.

I think they want to get protection from the politicians to run their business without any trouble and maybe they want to reduce the tax fee for them.
We know that lobbying in business owners with politicians is happened in many sectors, not just in the gambling industry, because they think that the politicians will have their power, even after they pension.
But if that business owner knows that the government needs that taxes to grow their country, they will not bribe the politicians or the officers because the impact will be worst to them and the officers.

That depends on the ethics and moral compass of the businessman I mean most businessman are greedy right? So there's an unlikely chance that they are going to be giving back to their community.

Oh no, you're wrong, they feel it, aren't taxes calculated through percentage of your total assets or income something like that? That's why I said that they are bribing and lobbying the politicians, and they have a lot of ways to be exempted from taxation, I mean there's a reason why they buy those worthless and overpriced paintings, and donate it to the gallery or a museum.
Exactly, that's why they are immune almost to paying taxes, they secretly instill their politician friends in position of great power and leverage because they want to make sure that they have favours that they can utilize when needed.

These activities have a lot of constant customer so I think that taxation at the highest number is justified because the government wants to take a dip on this activities if they know that it can make a lot of money.

They will in the other side but as a good advertisement to bring to the notice of the public,

I mean those business owners can extend that help in promote their business they can extend hands just to gather interest from the public, safe and almost free advertisement that will generate more potential prospects to use their services, as long as they can gained those owners will adjust but if they see nothing in returned better not expect from them to take part. That's how greed those people are!

Those rich people sometimes rig their documents to pay only small taxes. That's why we have this thing called money laundering where people manipulate their source of income to fool their government and pay only some small amount of it. Because most of the government nowadays take those taxes as theirs when they have the chance to do so and that's what we called corruption where most of the 3rd world countries are suffering right now. If it's just distributed to the poor people, it wouldn't be a problem but the rich people gotta find some way to hide their real assets to avoid those crocodile governments.

This really depends on the country you are living in. It is not that easy to bribe politicians with large amounts of money, I mean really large amounts of money such that it goes undetected. Not saying it is not possible, but it does depend on the country.

What I still don't get is aren't all these gambling companies set up in a way such that they pay low taxes anyway? At least for the online casinos that is the case I am sure.

I think that no matter how much money you have, it is unpleasant to pay unreasonable taxes and if we are talking about rich people, they will not pay them since they have the opportunity to play anywhere in any country. Therefore, it turns out that taxes work mainly against ordinary people. This is bad especially when you consider that big wins are rare in casinos.

It starts with how the tax is computed, if in the first place the taxes are already unreasonable, then, we can assume that this is anti-poor taxes, which means taxes are implemented to discourage the poor or may people with regular jobs to gambling as they'll pay high taxes which would only make them lose more money. There are a lot of countries that do not implement taxes on gamblers, but despite that, there are still a lot of losers and casinos are operating profitably.

To be honest, I don't really understand how a tax can scare off a gambler (especially if we are talking about addicted gamblers). Let's say a gambler has a dream / mania to win ten million dollars - he is unlikely to give it up after learning that he will have to give 35% (as in my country, if I remember correctly) of the winnings as taxes. It is possible that he will only increase the amount of which he will dream  ;D

In countries where gambling is seen as a form of sinful indulgence, we will definitely see them barring any form of it and disallowing such activities from being made within their territory. There's just no question at that. For others, they can impose these humungous tax percentages to at least make it so that these gamblers are still part of the society to say the least and is helping the economy in a way that they can easily see. Regardless of whether the tax is imposed to offer false sense of morality or not, one can't deny that given that their government is just and is not a big fat corruption den, then they would be able to enjoy their taxes in multitudes of ways. To push gamblers into higher taxation percentage in hopes of keeping them out of gambling seems a bit paradoxical or ironic. Since these gamblers wouldn't care much about the tax imposition in the first place anyway. So I don't see how a high tax imposition on gambling activities will really kill gambling for that particular country. If I may have missed something please enlighten me.

When a gambling company would be taxed out then the additional cost or expense will really be applied into its users or clients itself but i dont see for it to be that much giving off the difference
because it would really be just minimal or wont really be a bothersome at all.Depending on how high the percentage that they do set in but i dont really believe that they would really
be giving unreasonable percentage and for sure there would be some appeal or arguments if it turns out to be like that, they should be at least reasonable.

There's a fixed tax rate for that. But the government saw that the gambling industry is heavily operational and demand during pandemic, in most parts of the globe, so they take advantage of it by imposing an additional tax. Not really a problem for gambling operators as long as it was reasonable to impose and have a legal basis for it to take action.

Once the country finally recovers its former economic state before the pandemic, there should be a discussion for another tax adjustment pointing to gambling.

But what happens if they locate a main office for an online casino in Panama or Cayman Island or Cyprus/Malta? The taxes are crazy good there. I understand the problem with physical casinos, but often times when you check out where those casinos are registered, it's very often one of these countries. Sure if the taxes are applied to the gamblers, that is indeed bad, but if they do that they also have to allow players to deduct losses or not? That's how I know it and that is the reason why governments usually refrain from imposing taxes on the players themselves.

I don't think they are putting huge taxes just to discourage people from gambling, studies show that people who frequently gamble will continue to gamble at whatever cost even if they are living hundreds of miles away from casinos, they will always find ways to play in a casino, for relaxing pleasures or profits, they want to experience the feeling and the atmosphere of being in a casino at whatever cost.

Wrong term using mate Government did not take advantage but they have just implementing what they can afford to earn as if they did not then Only Gambling operators will benefit from it?
understand what i mean there ?
the government must make good profit from it because they spent tons of money from the pandemic support.
There is no need,and instead Taxation in gambling Must be brought much high because this is a Billion market that only pays small taxation when legal business pays more, specially SInTax from the alcohol , cigarettes and fatty/salty/sweet products do.

Yes, the businessman is greedy but not all of them are greedy.
Some of them will have good ethics and morals and will not do that action.
That will be symbiosis mutualism between them and it is like take and give back to their community.

That is why they seem too strong to breakable, but it is just a matter of time to separate each other and give them trouble because of what they did.
The clean government and officers will not stay quiet to see that and investigate until they can prove what they did wrong.
It is more effort to drag them out from the dark place and punish the dirty politicians and business owners who commit a crime.

There's nothing wrong with high taxation of this business, I mean don't they make a lot of money so I think that it's fair that they pay a large amount of money to give back to the community.

The problem is that businesses limit their help when they do this kind of thing, they care more about not putting out much money into helping people, they want their profit as much as possible untouched.

But the main concern is that Who will suffer? isn't the Gamblers? Will the operators/owner of gambling site/Businesses suffer from this taxation increase?

Actually the site has no even problem on that because in the end it is the Players will take care of everything.

So this is a Win Win solution on their side , They have followed what governments given on them yet they also covered the taxations .

And I understand this as well because this is present all over the economy, people complain about the rich receiving a lot of tax incentives but since they are the ones with the capital and they are the ones that generate the most jobs then it makes sense that governments cater to them so they can attract investors to their countries and improve their economies, which is why the concept of trying to tax the rich to oblivion is never going to work.

The Economy of a country will surely thrive with given taxes, we can say that there will be no government at all if there is no one paying their taxes, so in doing so I guess it is ok for me to get certain taxes to increase to some product that is nonessential, and products that may cause harm to the body or doesn't really good and healthy for your body, these given taxes sometimes is OK with the owners of that gambling casino, because they know they would surely get it back with the gamblers that are playing, right now even though it is still pandemic, Casino's are open and people can surely bet and gamble to their heart's content, as long as the safety protocol is monitored, well in some countries.

Taxation is never the solution. If you tax riches they will leave the country with their fortunes, if you tax gambling industry people will play at illegal casinos, if you tax tobacco industry people will buy it from a smuggler, if you tax income, goods and services people will buy less, impacting jobs generation negatively and consequently the whole national economy.
Taxes should be used to finance only basic needs like health and security, so they could be minimized to not harm the individuals of a society very much like we see right now. The point is that there are many people who live from these taxes (public employees) + benefits the state guarantees to them because the law forces to, so in no way they want to decrease them. So the rest of the society have to pay for it.

People nowadays think they are too smart for having the called democracy, but it works like any other system where few are on the top and most at the base of the pyramid must maintain their luxurious lives.

Tax is the blood of the economy and its just normal that government would really imposing those taxes for that sake and this is where progress all depends on to those someone who had
sit on the peak or government itself on how they would use it well because the progress of a certain country would really depend on how its been handled.
Since gambling businesses are making big revenue then its just normal that they would really be asking for such businesses and when it comes to percentage then
it might be possibly be higher too.

Tax is a lifeblood of the economy and it's necessary that every business will operate legally so the government will benefit through taxes, however, the government should be fair implementing taxes, they should not discourage the business owners to operate, instead, help them to grow their business.

For me, it's not wise to increase taxes to discourage the business from operating, the simple solution is to not allow them to operate.

All your statements are true only on one condition - if the country where such taxes exist is not a corrupt country! Because in that case, the taxes will be directed not in the right direction, but to the enrichment of various officials... Which ultimately has a very negative effect on business...

It's always the middle class people who get affected the most when the governments impose any kind of taxation.
That's what is happening here as well. The gambling operators don't pay taxes out of their pockets but instead they pay it from the profits they make out of their businesses.
If their business is generating less profits due to high taxation they probably increase their charges/costs/commission to make it even.
Eventually it's the gamblers who have to suffer in the end.

I think the middle class are not affected too much by chances join taxation. The lower class that is closely to Middle class but still lack of several more things to join the middle class, would be affected the most.

Companies have to survive and gain beneficiaries from their operations. If they can not survive with completion from opponents. If they can not get beneficiaries and only get loses from their operations, they will close their services. To save money for their own pockets, rather than spend it for non-profitable services and cost of many sort of operations.

The "sin tax" is a pretty common way to profit from behavior you would like to curb as a government.  I actually think it's a good way to handle the situation.  Rather than force your citizens to do thinks "underground" and risk their safety engaging in business with possibly unscrupulous characters, they just have to pay insane taxes.  This also probably helps the losers a bit, as they can at least get a decent tax break for a run of bad luck.  In the US, some states have some pretty crazy sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco that make it difficult for some people to engage in those activities.

That's right, it's always the end-user or consumer that will suffer in high taxes in real life, in gambling, I don't know if increasing the charges and other fees would help especially if there's a healthy competition in the area, maybe gambling operators just have to focus on increasing their number of gamblers by being aggressive with the promotion or advertisement so they'll be able to increase their revenue as well.

^ I start thinking now that this kind of business is for those people who can really afford to engage this activity and most of them are rich people and probably a high profile owner that has the capital to fight even how huge the sin tax it is as long as it can make a profit. This another proves that these kinds of businesses are for those rich people who can afford even how much the fees it is, it is not difficult for them. Probably gambling operators will still get profit because as we can see, we have still seen someone who has the same business.

Casinos are very stable business because gamblers will always find its way to gamble and we all know that the house will always win. Operating your own casinos are not that easy and it requires huge funds especially you are offering Millions of money in reward to attract more gamblers.

That tax is still small compare to the money they are making, and the purpose of tax is good as long as  the regulating body uses that money into its real purpose and not to corrup it. We know that gamblers are not the one paying the tax not unless in your country you are required to pay the income you've made in gambling if you're going to declare it. Taxes in gambling didn't discourage people are playing for sure, not for me I guess.

The lower class would hardly afford gambling and are most of the times in survival mode. Yes few of them might still gamble but most of them are just living for their daily expenses.
But yeah those who are in middle class and below and still gamble are the ones suffering while the rich are making money.

Yup! I totally agree this is surely normal for the government to ask to give more sums of tax on casino's especially if that specific industry is so alive even in the state of the pandemic, I guess there is a sure income for casino owners, and yes a big revenue from them right now that there are online gambling that is very prominent and easy to access during the pandemic,

I can say this because here in the Philippines there are online cockfights that Filipinos now tend to embrace and get some profit even though it is a type of gambling there are still many Filipinos getting a lot of income amidst any risk involved in losing money, I think the government sure put a large amount of tax in said online gambling.

A casino is a really stable business, but it is no less difficult than any other - the competition is very high and if you missed some trend, the flow of visitors will pass you by (and since the casino has huge fixed costs, you may even find yourself at a loss). Judging by the latest topics on the forum, the most recent trend in the casino is the service offered in connection with the legalization of cannabis.

I hardly believe that gambling is for rich people or those people with extra source of income only. I mean those people who have extra income that their capability to sustain their needs will not be suppressed due to gambling. But at some point there are those people who are really into gambling even without a proper source of income can still be able to place a bet or to gamble the amount of money that they have earned for the daily needs of their family and this is totally riskierthan I think.

Yes those are exactly the people I mentioned in my post. Most of the times these are the people in the lower class and middle class families who still gamble to earn a quick buck.
And because of such people their families become broke. The context being that such people suffer the most when high taxes are levied on gambling.
Taxes doesn't matter to the rich since they find a way to get away with it. Many times, they probably use their black money for gambling.

There are countries that ban gambling, probably that's the reason, although the government could make money through taxes, but if it will make their people addicted to gambling, that will create more problems on poverty, so it's not a win-win situation for the government.

You know, when rich gamble, they usually do it for entertainment, when poor gamble, they are gambling hoping to make money.

And I agree, taxes are a necessary evil because we need a centralized government to maintain order and things like that, however governments have gotten progressively bigger during this century and we are reaching a breaking point, the taxes are very high and governments still want more as their desire is to centralize everything, but sooner or later this is going to become unsustainable and once that happens the days of big governments will be behind us, at least for a time.

Apart from age restrictions, I did not find any other restrictions in gambling including the socio-economic status of gamblers. Anyone is allowed to gamble as long as they have money regardless of where the money is coming from. Gambling is a personal decision for different purposes and I don't think that the poor will be banned from gambling and gambling is only for the rich.

As far as I know, the imposition of high taxes on the gambling industry is a preventive measure taken by the government to reduce the number of people's addiction to gambling. But it seem that people will easily ignore the numbers and they still gamble despite the high taxes imposed on them. Gambling bans in Islamic countries appear to be much better at reducing gambling addiction rates than imposing high taxes. I know that people in countries where gambling is prohibited can still gamble, but it is very secretive and the government does not get any profit from this gambling.

Unfortunately, so far the process is going in the wrong direction. I remember seeing a chart showing the share of the government (US) in the spending of the entire country, and this share has been steadily increasing throughout the history of observations. If I'm not mistaken, it has long exceeded 50%. This is an unhealthy situation and a large imbalance that clearly does not work in favor of ordinary people.

Big spending from the government has now become the norm, because the voters prefer such policies. In the United States, the Republican Party was known as the fiscally conservative force. But during the reign of George W Bush (2000-2008), and then again during the term of Donald Trump (2016-2020), the federal debt increased by record amounts. The same is the case with some of the other countries such as India. The parties in power are those termed as "fiscally conservative", but even they are indulging in big spending as a result of the changed attitude from the voters.

That's because the eagerness is always there in these people who are now used to do gamble.

They can adjust for whatever tax implementation just like how they adjust when the cigarettes, liquors, cannabis, etc. are spiking their price. Their life is incomplete without enjoying these sin activity.


Because that will be lead to imprisonment and a big penalty so people have no choice but to follow that's why some operate under the table.

It's against the law in those countries so it's more effective compare to implementing a high tax.

During a pandemic, this has become a common place for absolutely all countries. It is scary to imagine what will happen when these contradictions accumulate to the point where they can no longer be dampened by the printing of the next portion of fiat money. There will be a big crash, but in theory all deflationary assets should perform well.

Correct, I'm afraid of hyperinflation as the effect of the pandemic is really big, but our government is so confident of printing money so people will think that the government will handle it, what they give as financial help to the people is a debt that people will pay through the increase of taxes, and the government has no choice but to act on that so they'll be able to recover from the financial loses due to the pandemic.

Well, gambling industry should be one of the industry that will suffer huge taxes.

The situation is much worse than just tax increases. The most unpleasant tax is inflationary, you cannot hide from it (although some people think that bitcoin can help here, but I disagree with them). I do not think that any additional taxes on the gambling business will be introduced, most likely we will see the introduction of taxes on the crypto and the entire business associated with it.

There must be other ways to get the money and pay back the never ending debt - yes, printing more money also known as quantitative easing is not the answer and that money will have to come from taxes.

And, it seems to me that governments set themselves on the crypto sector.  As to whether they'll be able to get casinos/ exchanges to pay it is another matter.

I am aware but it seems the politicians do not understand that this is unhealthy, after all governments do not produce anything of value, they are just redistributing the wealth that already exists and they are squandering it and still are asking for more, this is simply not sustainable and as we know that which cannot last forever it wont, so it is just a matter of time until this changes, but I will admit that we could still have decades of this until things could begin to change.

But isn't there a harmful equilibrium between insanely high taxation and prohibition? I am sure there is!

Let's assume you are broke and you want to do something the government would like you to rather not to. So the government raises insane taxes, the taxes at some point cause you to behave the same way as a prohibition would cause you to behave. That is individual for every human being, but you could essentially apply an indifference curve to tax vs. prohibition and you would hit a point on the curve for almost every human being in the world. Maybe except for the billionaires who would never care about any tax once they are already a billionaire. Taxes aren't necessarily better than prohibition when it comes to fighting underground activities.

From my own view, there's no harmful equilibrium between high taxation and prohibition. If there's the organization that operates the business will have quit and the last time I checked they are making huge money through the business.


Well, the government usually set up a fair tax for the startup or new business since the business will create more job opportunity and we shouldn't compare gambling, narcotics, and alcohol tax because the owner is making huge money from it.

Exactly, that's the logic, high taxes on casinos is implemented because this industry is making a lot of money, it's a fair judgment by the government, they also want to benefit from the money spent by their people, and if those taxes are really high that the operators cannot operate a profitable business anymore, then it's also a loss for the government.

What I'm saying is, the government has the most qualified people who evaluate the economy and they see the numbers, so they'll not likely make a bad decision to create a law without the right basis.

Yes. The rate tax government gave the casino owner is no something they can't handle and I'm sure the government understands how much they are making before increasing their tax rate and the level of revenue the government are getting through casino, I believe they will never do something that will make the casino business evacuate

yeah right, the government will take care of this as they know casino brings a good amount of taxes and implementing higher than this business can acquire might force them to evacuate and find other locations.

There's always basis in terms of placing or implementing taxes, sure deal that behind that we don't know what are the conditions, mostly happened with small time casinos.

Underground deals to make sure that the permits will  granted and the house will facilitate without any problems.

That is not good, if you raise taxes high enough to the point people behave in the same way as if there was a prohibition then they are going to do the same they do when there is a prohibition and that is finding substitute goods and services, also known as the black markets, they will just gamble in a casino that is illegal and that does not have to pay such taxes, eventually the legal casinos will go bankrupt and the majority of the casinos that will be in place will be the illegal ones.

Every increase in taxation is really good for a country as long as it will serve the right purpose. It's a valid point that government will rely on their source of revenue for those industries that are not affected during the pandemic and one of those is gambling.

As long as the added percentage given is reasonable, gambling owners will fairly accept it without a problem.

I guess there is an equilibrium as or a quasi equilibrium, affecting an increasing number of people with rising taxes. Of course, billionaires will never care. They would pay a 99% tax just for the lolz depending on the amounts they are gambling, unless they put existential money on the line but that is hard to imagine for a billionaire.
For the average person, a tax rising towards 100% will affect more and more people the same way a prohibition would affect them, entailing the same courses of action for both the high tax and the prohibition scenario.

Regarding your second point, I am not sure I understand. All three involve a lot of money. Gambling, narcotics and alcohol are massive industries although I would say that gambling produces less jobs than the alcohol industry.

I'm not sure any business owner can accept any tax increase without problems! Even if the casino has super profits, I'm sure they pay huge taxes as it is... So why should they accept a tax increase? And this is me talking about civilised countries, especially since in such countries taxes are actually used properly!

When we say taxes, it should not be for specific people only, it's for the same business and the implementation is equal, the tax due would only vary according to your profit, low profit means low tax and high profit means high tax and it will never be possible that you'll not pay any taxes on your business.

The message of the government is very simple, when you have a business, you are obliged to pay taxes, and since they are the ones who regulate and implement it, they can also amend taxes and most likely it's an increase than the decrease, and as an investor, you have to deal with it, choose whether you continue or you stop because you can't anymore pay the taxes or your business is not profiting anymore.

It sounds like slavery. The government has a supreme power that forces people to pay increasing taxes along the years otherwise they can't run their businesses or even live normally, just like the punishment for slaves when they didn't work or didn't work properly. Furthermore, governments never detail in a easy way where all these taxes are going to.
Every product you purchase, every service you hire, every activity you execute have a tax attached. So it would be also natural to have an information about where this money is going when paying these taxes, what doesn't happen. The message taxes send is: when force comes on the scene, right goes packing.  

I believe the underground deals were among the reason why the government increases the tax payment of casinos and the last time I checked we have some government officials who are also the customers of the casino so they understand everything about their activities. Therefore, it will be hard for the government to implement tax rates that will make them evacuate.

I also support that increase in tax will 100% affect the average person but most tax supplements only focus on the wealthy people which you also confirmed they also don't bother much about it the tax since it is just another of them giving back to the community.
Regarding the second point, what I said is that all the mention industries make a huge amount of money and the government totally understands what they are doing when they increase their tax rate.

On point and a very simple explanation because whats the point on going or continuing the business if its not profitable anymore plus the imposed taxes were very high then its just normal that it would be

better to completely stop operation or stop business than on going further.As a business owner then you wont really be having no choice but rather to deal or agree on whats being required because

that would really be their requirement before you can open up a business or replacing the older one.If you cant deal with it then its your choice neither you do stop or agree as simple as that.

Running a casino is not a very safe business. On paper, the house advantage may be 0.5% or 1.0% and the owner is supposed to gain a certain percentage of the overall revenue as taxes. But in real world, that may or may not happen. In some years, the customers may be lucky and they may win a few large jackpots. And this will push the casino business in to loss. On top of that, they need to take care of the other expenses, such as wages for the employees and maintenance of the slot machines. And finally, the pandemic has made sure that the revenues are only a fraction of what they were earlier. This is not the right time for an increase in taxes.

The house edge you are talking about is just a small percentage, there are still plenty of games that have a house edge and I think casinos would stop if they are operating profitably, they know their business so they know their income and expenses, and actually regardless of the house edge, as long as they keep winning a casino would remain profitable.

Try to look at our favorite online casinos, some have exists for years and already have millions of dollars wagered to them, so we can assume that they make big profit as well.

It surely does sounds like slavery, I think everyone understands that some level of taxes should be paid in order for the government to be able to fulfill the reason of why we have a government on the first place, but those taxes need to be as low as possible, and the reason for this is that governments only redistribute the wealth that already exist in the country, they do not generate wealth and the more taxes they charge the lesser wealth is created and it takes more time to create that wealth.

yeah right, they see that there are  government officials who are also patrons of those offshores casinos.

Underground deals are not new and with how the those who imposed the rules should act in favor of the government, applying additional taxes maybe hurting the business,

But there's something behind that will keep those owners to continue dealing and continue to operate, business as usual.

Exactly, if it goes in the right direction then I wouldn't mind having a big tax imposed on me, just look at some of the successful and 1st class economy in Europe, they make free healthcare and colleges hell some even pay students to attend college because they have high taxes and people sees the taxes being used the right way.

People will not complain if taxes are used the right way, besides, this tax is not a tax for necessities, so it's alright to increase the tax as we have an option to gamble or not. Like a lottery, the revenue is used for government projects and we play the lottery although the chance is very slim (close to nothing), so it should not be a burden for us gamblers.

And also being a gambler isnt a mandatory thing but rather a matter of choice and also to those business owners where taxation is something in default even though there might be some changes in rates or deduction
but at least you do know that it does have specific benefits on a certain country and that depends on what type of government you do have its neither a corrupted one or really that mindful about development
on where those taxes is been applied on the right way then this wont really be an issue for most gambling site or even those typical business owners.

True, I won't think that it's too much if they tax as we gamble since I was in my childhood days, there's already gambling and there's already taxation for everything unless you get a treatment that you'll be getting a tax free winning. Well, just forget about winning. It happens with small bets so the tax that's being imposed with that isn't that much but for those people that win a lot, they surely are feeling some regret if they're imposed with taxes. But that's normal, the taxes go to what it's needed to go and as long as you see that there's progress and development from what it's being used, that's totally fine.

I have seen a lot of people saying that taxes are being used for good purposes and therefore no one should stand against taxation. That may have been the case a few decades ago, but times have changed. Nowadays a majority of the expenses from the government can be termed as "wasteful". Especially in the case with left-wing governments, a large part of the tax revenue is nowadays used to reward the most unproductive sections of the population, in the form of child benefits and unemployment handouts. And meanwhile the tax rates have gone up gradually. In the US and EU, there are jurisdictions where the top marginal income tax is above 60%.

I also have a similar emotion regarding the taxes, as long as they are being spent on anything that helps my country grow, I am more than willing to pay them but once the taxes are being spent for their own comfort, it becomes a problem to me.

Taxation on gambling is actually not as bad as it might seem because it demotivates the gamblers as they have to pay taxes on winnings while also contributes to the country's growth which sends the appropriate message. Tax must be very consciously set though because if it is set too high for the gamblers, they will find some illegal ways of gambling and elude all the taxes.

But, you need to realize that gamblers will most likely lose money to gambling more often than they win and if you are going to impose a high tax on their winning amounts, are you also going to reimburse them when they lose? I don't think any government policy does it. There is already a house edge player has to overcome to win and then the governments are adding extra pressure by imposing more tax so it would be better to ban gambling outright. This kind of torture doesn't set the tone right.

How about charge the casinos some massive amounts of tax? Because they make lot of money and they also have the edge against gamblers in all games so easier for them to pay than pressuring the gambler.

It really depends on the country and the governance where you're living at. You can appreciate those that are doing good and you see where your taxes go.
But be disappointed when you see that there's no progress and it's not what we're enthusiastically saying about where our taxes go. Not every government is good but there are those that maintaining to be at least good and showing where the taxes are going and it's for the good of everybody. Although some really doesn't go with the terms that we like, we have no choice but to just chose a better leadership within the next elections.

Regulations on gambling has very strict implementation, so we shouldn't question law makers about that certain situation. However, setting higher taxes can be appealed on them just to beg for consideration if an operational cost of a gambling business really put the over head cost into suffering. This should be reviewed, because if not there might be a possible cheating on gambling players in a casino and losers will increase everytime there's an event. This is really an intense situation which I think we didn't want to happen.

Agreed. For example, in the Scandinavian countries, the tax rates are quite high, but then the government provides a lot of services and therefore the tax payer is happy to pay the due taxes on time. But here in India, that is not the case. The highest slab for income tax is set at 43%, and the government actually limits most of the services to those who are not paying the income tax. India is one of those countries which discriminates those who pay the tax. Under such circumstances, the tax payer may not be very happy.

Tax on gambling It usually depends on the country you live in the government usually levies a tax if the casino game is legal. Taxes go under the control of the government casinos are set up statewide to ensure dividends and duties from gambling there are countless such casinos around the world where everyone is addicted to gambling in many countries of the world there is a gambling business. The government borrows the most tax from casinos from other sites because it is a very lucrative business.

The government does not borrow taxes because that is their income, they can allocate that income to any government projects and expenditures. To make it simple, the only relationship between the casinos and the regulators is to monitor the casino and ensure that casinos pay the right taxes.

The revenue the government is getting from the casinos is helpful to the community and this is the reason why the Las Vegas mayor ask for the opening of the casino during the total lockdown so if the revenue is helping the government to raise funds, I don't see the government applying the additional taxes that will hurt the casino business.

Taxes are based to how much Income the business is getting and also the bad effect to the community in which the government will surely suffer in time.

Like alcohol and smoking in which once the person got sick or in time of their retirement , it is the government will surely cover the medication once that person are not capable of spending because of the vices he took , and that called "SINTAX" in which the highest form of taxation .

Taxes on gambling is been implemented equally not minding if it's really a big gambling company or small one both has a fixed tax the send to the government based on their agreement. If truely this government aren't trying to force them to evacuate then it should have been based on how much revenue the generate.

Many countries tries so hard to fight against gambling and many has tried shorting down gambling in their countries with diverse treat measures unleashed on this gambling companies with this are we still going to say the are sending a message of support or evacuation?

Instead of focusing on the taxing the gamblers, why not first focus to tax the gambling houses. I think that gambling houses are making much more profit and it will be beneficial for the government to tax them. They could generate a lot more amount of money, if they put tax on gambling houses and physical casinos. Once this is implemented in true spirit, then we can think on how can we tax the individual gambler.

Many countries including my own are taxing services and products that they think are luxury items, this is to limit people from using and patronizing the products and services, that includes cigarettes, liquors, and services being offered by casinos, so poor or average income, people will not use or patronage these products and services, casinos are heavily taxed because they only want rich people to go there and because they can bear the high taxation because their players and clients are rich people.

but the problem in taxing the houses is that the idea that the house/owners will also put that amount to the gamblers as they have the power to do that , so in the end it is the gamblers will still suffer so let the gamblers pays their taxes as small token that being charged by the gambling site much more than required.
is it called Sin Tax right? together with salty foods and vices .

I think that applies to products only, but for gambling which belongs to entertainment, that is not considered as sin tax.

Yes, the tax is still high as casinos are very profitable,  but most regulators are focus on taxing the casinos themselves than the gamblers who are risking their money which we know they will still lose in the long run. When we say entertainment, people who go to the casino are just having fun, so they'll spend, you can't tax people from spending money as tax usually is charged to income.

But that is only possible with a government with low levels of corruption, in that case since people are receiving a very direct benefit then the high taxes could be justified some way, even if just by ideology I do not really like the idea, however in the majority of countries there is a huge level of corruption which means that most of the taxes that you pay are going instead to the bank accounts of corrupt politicians which is why in such countries many people make the effort to avoid paying those taxes.

Well, if I'm in that type of country, I wouldn't feel bad if the taxes are high since you can actually see where your taxes go. That's why some people don't really mind paying taxes as it's already permanent and as long as you're enjoying the perks and you're actually one of the beneficiaries where the taxes are going, you're all good with it. But too bad that not all governments are not like what you've example. There are high taxes but there's no sign where all of those taxes are going and that's why people who feel bad with it, doesn't really care at all.

I also support that increase in tax will 100% affect the average person but most tax supplements only focus on the wealthy people which you also confirmed they also don't bother much about it the tax since it is just another of them giving back to the community.
Regarding the second point, what I said is that all the mention industries make a huge amount of money and the government totally understands what they are doing when they increase their tax rate.

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I think it is quite the euphemism to say that rich consider high tax a way to give back. Some may think that way but certainly not all. I rather think that if a billionaire goes into a casino and gambles with 100,000 USD, he doesn't really care whether he can keep 50k or 75k when he manages to double his money. That is very different for people who play with money that is of existential relevance, like many poker players who usually live in places where the tax on poker winnings is zero.

I think that can prevent middle and low people class from visiting the casino branded to playing gambling because they can not pay the tax or the tickets to enter the casino. But those people can still play gambling on the other casinos with low specifications for people who want to gamble. Besides that, those casinos do not need them to pay anything because as long as those people have money to gamble, they will be allowed to visit the casino anytime they want.

gamblers will always find ways to play mate , if there are no other option in place where they in? even with those tickets or taxes? they will surely play , will find other amount to play.
like me i live in place where only 2 casinos are available , so if they will be putting more taxes or even tickets ? then i will surely comply and play as i have no options,

I would not play if there's too much tax on gambling and even the gamblers have to pay the tax, I think with that kind of law, we already loss money even before we gamble and for me, gambling is not anymore fun. In the Philippines, there are no taxes in gambling for bettors, but the operators has to pay high taxes especially those offshore gaming casinos.

Well, your case shows that the first question must be what the message by setting a tax is supposed to be? If it is meant to be a sin tax and it stops you from gambling, the tax obviously send the right message in the sense that it fulfills the desired outcome by the government. It does definitely depend on the amount of taxes the government raises, but I think that double digits will definitely decrease the number of gamblers significantly.

This wont be directly be charged up to gamblers itself but would be directly mostly in gambling platforms or businesses and the owner would be the one will be charging into its users but for sure it wont really be that
much noticeable.

Im not aware on talking about direct taxation to those people who do intend to go in gambling places but i dont think that they would able to apply it into those who do play online.
So its impossible to filter it out completely.

When it comes to taxation then its just normal to have this and we know on whats the use of this.

Even though government or other regulatory bodies raise the bar for gambling, people would still look for other ways or opportunities to counter such rules. There are plenty of tools that could help them do that. This is similar to the case of regulation and taxation of cryptocurrencies in many countries but this hasn't stopped users from those countries from participating in crypto. The only thing is that, it might be difficult to access but people would always make a way.

It's either they move to play on platforms with low requirement bar or come up with a trick to manipulate this system so they can gamble regardless.

Yes, tax on gambling are charged equally no matter how big or small the company is, but if you look it from the bright side, the company are charged base on their activities.


They are sending a message of support but also need gambling cooperation in raising funds for the countries and we all how the world economics with the increase in the spread of the covid 19, the government can shut down every physical gambling company because of that but they choose not and the last time I check, if the tax is much for the company to handle they would have evacuated before now.


Yes, it is not possible for wealthy people to have the impression that paying tax is also another way of giving back to the community for it is not possible for everybody to be equal, some people like to waste their funds on showbiz, drinks rather than paying their tax.

Personally, I don't think it's a matter of sending the right message or not. It's just completely foolish to even try to restrict the act of gambling.

Fact of the matter is that taking chances/risks is a basic human instinct, and no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to change that.

Instead of trying to restrict/tax the gambling industry so that regulated entities is virtually impossible to operate, why not take advantage by offering positive regulation and reap the tax benefits instead? It doesn't make any sense to me.

Indeed. As you say, gamblers will always find a way to play. They will search for other gambling places that do not have many rules so they do not have to feel difficult to gamble. Maybe that is why illegal gambling is still available in a secret place and not many people know its existence. But if they do not have many options, they can not do anything except follow the rule.

Even if the government or regulator uses strict gambling rules, that will not stop gamblers from looking for other gambling places. Yes, they can ask their friends who know where the gambling places do not have strict rules.

Gladly, crypto gives that chance for gamblers and in this pandemic in which many people stay at their homes, gamblers found that they can use crypto to continue playing gambling. They can avoid the strict rules while also having a chance to hide their identity in gambling places. That is the benefit for them using crypto so they do not have to be afraid if they break the rules from their country.

|We know that government will never restrict gambling without a purpose of one thing , Money/gains . so expect that to be true if needed.

well there are friends of luck and if you are a gambler you know that is happening .

that will take long process before they achieve the target funds , we also knew how troubled each government now because of covid19 pandemic that is why we need to understand that they are seeking for more funds now.

This proves that government never care about the people, they only care about how much revenue they make for example smoking is injurious to health but government decided to restrict people from doing it so they increase tax so that no one is going to buy it but surprisingly the cigarette is the world's top selling products in numbers as per the stats so they keep on increasing tax while saying that you should avoid using it.

Smoking, drinking.etc are personal choice and if you are living in a democratic country then there is not much the government can do about it. They can increase the taxes (not to receive more revenue, but to discourage people from indulging in these habits), but that is it. And I disagree with your argument. If profit making was the only concern here, then the government could have legalized cocaine, magic mushrooms, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl. That would provide them manytimes the profit that they are receiving now.

I agree with you, @Sithara007, that taxing habits like smoking and drinking is one of the best ways to limit them. How does a "not-so-supportive government" originate? TBH, if you truly care about our well-being, you should be aware of the other negative effects of those things on us, such as second-hand smoking, which is more dangerous than the user's own smoke. Alcohol causes a person to be violent; there have been numerous studies on this and it can already be proven by simply attending a party and 1 out of 10 can cause harm and violence if drunk, especially if his personality is aggressive. These kinds of things are very dangerous to humans and can affect other people too even they're not the users, physical and mental.

There are many ways to tax, and taxing cigarettes and alcohol is very reasonable for me because I don't smoke because it's bad for our health and not recommended, and those who will be against it are the users.

This kind of taxes should not be applied with gambling as gambling belongs to entertainment and it does not always bring negative effects to gamblers, yes they may lose money in gambling but if it's treated as entertainment, then it should still give them satisfaction. Everyone has their own interest and way to entertain themselves, and not because some people are addicted to gambling, it should not be generalized as gambling being a bad thing.

In that case people will just play at illegal casinos, we must understand that when taxes are so high towards an activity then this has the effect of people looking for alternatives and this means that while some will decide to gamble less or find another way to spend their time some others will decide to gamble in illegal casinos decreasing the revenue the government was expecting out of this raise in the taxes while at the same time increasing the crimes on the country, which is never a good thing.

If they legalize other products then consumption of alcohol and cigarettes will be down so those companies will be in loss that is why they influence government to ban others and keep cigarettes as legal products, it may look like a conspiracy but thats what I feel about increase taxes.

Cigars and liquor maybe harmful to our body, but with control, it will not lead to a big problem, while illegal drugs is does really have a bad effect as we all know what people would do if he is under the influence of illegal drugs, they are not in a clear state of mind if they are taking illegal drugs but people who drink alcohol and take cigars, they can think normally.

Sending a right message matters anyway especially in present time where there are so many circulated message that sometimes didn't associate to the establishment with an intention to make a unnecessary information to the gambler. On the thread of taxes on gambling send the right message actually not really necessary but on the other hand it is an important reminder especially if a person forget this type of responsibility because as we all know if you know that when you forget or skipped the said date there are some penalty.

From my experience and gamblers i know will only use this to try to make more money in gambling so they can cover their taxes with the winnings which will somewhat lead them to losing all the money..

Taxing the money on everything is the government's job to make money and make things worse for the people.

Each country has its own rules regarding gambling tax. There are countries where you have to pay tax on the profits per month. In month 1 - 100,000 eur profit, and in month 2 - 90,000 loss, then you will have to pay something of 29% tax from month 1. Count out your profit. But I don't know to what extent governments are actively involved in checking such matters.

I'd say the government are being greedy if they have that kind of huge taxes, it's only the gambling sites that makes consistent profit here, for gamblers, we don't one day we make big profit, the next day we could lose it all together with our fresh capital, so it doesn't make sense at all.

Government would really be getting those complaints if they would raise up a tax on a specific industry just because they are earning much compared to others.I would understand that situation but the increase

should really be on that considerable side where it wouldnt really be that too much and wouldnt really be that too low because this is still a business and that one hadnt been built just because of paying up taxes.

10-15% is considerable but going above that percentage is already too much. If business owners wont really be dealing on that new agreement then say goodbye to their business.

Heck, if I was taxed 10-15% on my winnings I would flat out quit gambling at regulated places.

And that's the problem with all gambling taxes. Not that it sends the wrong message or whatever, but it just is never enforceable as people innately find new ways to risk their money in games, and operators find new ways to circumvent regulation.

Just think about Japan's ban on gambling that sparked the advent of a billion dollar industry in Pachinko...

The only difference between cigars, alcohol and illegal drugs is that the first two are legal while the third is not, tobacco is one of the most addictive substances on the whole planet and alcohol is by far the biggest reason why so many young people die, so we need to understand that even if those two substances are legal that doesn't mean that they are good for your body even if taken responsibly, but people have gained the freedom to consume them because the government knows that if they were to ban them then a huge black market will develop.

Are you sure? I haven't heard about huge taxes like this one 29%.
I've heard in California the tax is very huge somewhat around the percentage you've mentioned but are the taxes the same in every state of the USA?
For checking matters i think government checks the people on priority who're earning a lot of money and keeps on checking if they're paying their taxes but i'm certain agencies like FBI keep a regular watch on huge transactions and keep inquiring about those from authorities and authorities get the basic idea from that.

Most probably it's just the bettors who are gonna be paying their responsibility as they know the penalty of tax evation. The government are more focus on the monitoring of gambling as it's easier to do and they are the ones who really make a lot of money.

I don't even understand why gamblers have to pay taxes every time they win, but when they lose they get nothing.
IMO, taxes to be implemented only if a gambler wins a big amount of money like a lottery money.

Yeah it did actually happen about 29% tax.

Netherlands to bring in temporary gambling tax increase

"Fully licensed and regulated operators in the Netherlands currently pay 29% tax on gross gaming revenue from slots, casino gambling and all forms of remote gambling. Under the Dutch government’s budget plan for 2018, this would be increased by 1.1% to a 30.1% tax rate."

Link source; https://www.iagr.org/industry-news/netherlands-bring-temporary-gambling-tax-increase

This is not a friendly country to a casino, Imagine, 29% tax on gross gaming revenues, I think that's too much and it might be a way to discourage operators from operating a casino or a gambling site, for me, I think it's better if they find another location to operate so they can maximize their income, besides, the trend now is alreay online gambling, so anywhere we are located, we can still access the site.

LOL!

29%-30% tax rate? It is just too overkill for a business and even we do say that they are really that making such profit but having 30% deduction on overall gross income would surely hurt.
No business operators would really last that long if they would really be retaining such deduction or tax.I agree on the suggestion that it would be better if they would really be finding another
location which does have much lesser tax for them to cherish out rather than staying into a country which do impose unjustifiable tax rate.

But the government has already created a law on that particular increase and I don't think they'll implement it if it will kill the gambling industry. Maybe they know something, casino is a very profitable business as people just keep losing their money just to get entertainment.

If it's unresonable, then no casino would survive and we consider the tax to kill the industry, but the question now, is it happening?

If you have money to spend on unethical things for a society then pay us half the amount to legalize that is what all the governments are doing in the name of regulations so that gamblers as well as the casinos are getting affected by paying huge amount as tax and its win-win situation for the government since both parties are paying money to them.

If you keep the tax on gambling low, more people will properly declare it and pay the tax. There are countries where you have to pay really ridiculously high taxes. And there is virtually no supervision of such practices. So completely pointless. maybe some countries not even charge any money at all as tax.

ya.ya.yo!

This depends actually on how the government enforce its taxing power.

Regardless if the tax is high or not, the government can properly monitor on which establishments pay their taxes regularly. The reason on why the government increases the tax is in order to increase their government expenditure. Since taxes are what provide the government the fund to create projects, having a high tax can simply fund their expenditures that will benefit the general public.

Like what I previously mentioned, the power to tax has this implied power of destroying the establishment. It convinces some business owners to close down their businesses due to the high amount of taxes they pay.

But isn't it the right way to do to force the business to close? Why not just ban the business directly so it would send a direct message that the government does not allow gambling operators to do their business anymore, I guess it's a coward way of sending message to gambling operators.

Government doesnt really love to close those operators but rather being too tight when it comes to taxation which might really result to such closure and i do rather see this to be that abusive in power
on where they do impose such law which isnt justifiable if you do tend to look at on the percentages then its not already ethical to be put up on a business on putting huge tax even though they are
profitable but doesnt mean that they would be giving almost half of their revenue? They arent thinking that owners do risk out money to make this business and they are really trying to slice up
a huge part of it and just talking or minding about that its a tax which would be used or benefit the country? It isnt a solid reason.

They are in control of governing a country, so they can use their power to serve the interest of the people, now, if people will be asked, will they agree to charge casino operators with high taxes, if they would say so, then it's their interest. The taxes that will be collected will generally use for the improvement of a country, so if casinos will still continue to operate, they are the biggest contributor for the development of the country.

No brainer that gambling businesses are the one of the highest tax payors in the industry excluding those other businesses since when we do compare it on the revenue that they could make and certain percentage
in terms of taxation then it would really be a significant one but somehow if those taxes wont really be used on the right way then it would be just not worth it for the taxes given.Tax does play a big role
in talks of economic development but it would always be depending on how the government would able to handle or use it well and we know that not all would really be having that
mindset or simply means that there are corrupt officials.

My opinion is that allowing the gambling industry to operate, even with higher taxes is much more preferable than imposing a blanket ban on all gambling activity. Take the case of countries such as India, Indonesia and Bangladesh. There is a blanket ban on gambling, but there is no dearth of illegal gambling dens. This results in ordinary people losing their hard earned money, as many of these illegal casinos are not regulated and indulges in fraud. Also, a part of the proceedings are used to bribe the cops and politicians.

It's useless if the government will ban gambling but they will not strictly implement the law, there's a big reason why they ban gambling and that is because they believe it makes people poor and will increase the poverty rate in a country, while some countries ban gambling due to religious belief.

Strict implementation is necessary so corrupt officials will also be punished.

We do not know how the government will react to that because they know that the tax from gambling can give a bigger contribution to the country. But if they can apply a low tax for the gambler and use a high tax for the casino, I think that people will not have a problem as they will see that the government use a limitation for people who use too big money to get the tax. And if people do not use too big money, they will have a free tax and will not try to break the limit from the government.

I also preferred to have it legalize even though paying taxes is high rather than gambler makes it illegal which only might cause more problems and additional workloads for the authorities. But, I'd still never think this could be the solution to such a gambling addiction and even to stop illegal casinos as these people will find a way to make it happen, and to think also that bribery is still not an excuse, especially if having a corrupt officials.

And this is the problem with trying to send a message through raising the taxes of an activity, taxes should not be punitive and instead should be nothing more but a way to get some funds for the governments, if they raise the taxes to the point that people think it is ridiculous then there are going to be many people that are going to prefer to play in establishments that are illegal simply to avoid paying the tax, a situation that exposes them to additional dangers that they should not have been exposed on the first place if the taxes were fair to the industry.

There would be always cons  on decisions which would turn out to be excessive and if they would really be imposing high taxes then we know on what would be the  next.
It would neither be affecting the gamblers  itself or would totally be affecting the business owners  as simple as that but expect on what would be the things that they would possibly go.
Taxation is normal but in the sense that it would really be that punishing kind of act where percentage should at least be considerable.

Exactly, if the government will impose high taxes on gambling, it's either they want to make more revenue while keeping the business alive or they just want to kill the industry as they don't want to put a complete ban on gambling. The purpose is really important, and if gambling operators still continue to operate despite the high taxes, that means they can afford to pay the taxes as they are running a profitable business.

Agreed, the government will continue to milk such casinos because they are one of the most lucrative sources of revenue because many gamblers play there 24/7. Because gambling is one of the affluent people's pastimes, large sums of money are constantly in circulation, and most casino minimum bets are so expensive that the typical person cannot afford them. So even the government implement such high taxes on gambling casinos, it'll run smoothly as nothing happened because of the high percentage of the business' revenue.

There is a reasonable argument that the tax is to pay for future costs to those activities.   Most obvious would be smoking which has no toll for years until in later decades the person may have trouble breathing, cancer and all sorts of negatives like heart disease and many other costs to society, the person, their ability to work and also healthcare costs in countries that provide healthcare for all.   That would be quite justified as we now know smoking has a very great cost in accumulation due to addiction and repetition.

I dont class gambling as such a negative thing, the vast majority of people are just playing a game and I think only a minority could become dependent in some way perhaps.   However its reasonable to tax to a small extent, not excessively but in a small reasonably competitive manner that is justified by the legal support of that government and nations infrastructure.   I have no belief in excessive levels of tax for any product really, it only encourages business to occur elsewhere instead.

We all know that casinos are one of the lucrative sources of government's money.
And the casinos will not agree with the implemented tax if they will head to bankruptcy.
So if the casino feel that they can't pursue their business because of the tax, they can always negotiate with the government.
The government will not resort to closing them down but instead the situation is more on meeting halfway.
Unfortunately, the casino needs the government's permission before they can continue their business.

It is a very thin line. Casino business is very risky. A few jackpot wins by the customers can push the annual financial balance to red. That is why small players are largely absent from this business. And in case the tax rates go beyond a certain limit, then the casinos will be forced to increase the house advantage, in order to maintain the profit margin. The customers may notice this, and may instead go to illegal gambling dens. In the end, the legal casinos will lose their business, and the government will witness a fall in tax revenue.

Why will the customers go for illegal gambling when gambling is accepted in the country, only this can be used when gambling is not allowed in a country just like Muslims countries, but if gambling is legal, gambling sites will want to follow the rules and laws of their government. But what I know is that people that know about cryptocurrency's gambling site will see it attractive as no tax may be paid.

Some gamblers would still go in illegal casinos despite the country is legalizing gambling already, I think it's normal as some would want to have a different experience and probably the ambiance is different. There are even underground casinos, but personally, I have not experienced it yet.

Yeah right, there are gamblers who still play with underground casinos. They choose to play with some other gamblers who love to explore and feel the ambiance.

Although they already have legal places to enjoy the game, they continue to patronize illegal gambling houses and continue to enjoy the way this kind of business is taking care of their gambling experiences.

But likewise, if personally, I would rather play with the legal house than play with those underground gamings.

In illegal casinos, there are no taxes, so even if you win, you are not obliged to pay the taxes, I think that's one of the advantages why some gamblers choose to risk in playing this kind of platform. Maybe they also weight the risk and reward, if they get caught, what would be the jail time, or how much they'll pay for the bail, and other related things.

Normal people won't consider illegal casinos, if the legal ones are available. But legal casinos, for most part have strict KYC requirements. And this creates issues for those who have unaccounted funds, or those who have links with shady transactions. I don't think that someone would go to an illegal casino just because the house advantage is one or two percentage lower. The only instance when they depend on an illegal casino is in cases where they have issues with KYC requirements or they are legally prohibited from spending their funds on gambling.

It does not automatically mean that you have shady transactions if you prefer to use a non-regulated casino or illegal casino, some just don't want to divulge their personal information as they want to keep it private, and for me, privacy really matters that's why I choose to gamble in crypto casinos that has no KYC requirement, and until now, there's still many of them in the space.

Well am not sure if it's a really good idea that the government is earning from all the gambling companies and during the pandemic they did increase the tax, by a hell lot therefore I do think that they don't have a moral ground for doing that.

The countries with Muslim dominated population are the ones which are trying to force the religion onto people and I did see a post where there were photos from south Arabia showing people gambling.

Regulations are good but only when they are not exploiting the very industry that they are gaining the profit from.

I think the moral ground in order to validate the government's move of increasing their tax on gambling is for their expenditure. Like what I previously mentioned, taxes are what enables the government to function and to provide projects for the community. Given that gambling, in general, is widespread popular, it is evident and obvious that they would have to increase the taxes by a lot.

Regulations are definitely good as long as they do not exceed or destroy a business activity. Any regulation that restricts or provides unreasonable fees has the potential of destroying businesses in the country- in which the government would also suffer during the process.

You don't think that a country that legalize cryptocreency use will always put an eyes in every aspect that has something doing with cryptocreency including gambling especially when tax is followed up too. I think it will and the management of the business will be taxed if the gamblers can't be made to pay for winnings.

Gamblers and gambling operators have different tax liabilities, and they do process the filing separately, however, if the regulators will direct the casinos to be withholding tax agents, then they can withheld taxes from the gamblers' winnings and gambling will not need to worry in filing the tax.

I think what Oshosondy was trying to say is that crypto gambling sites may not be paying taxes, so it is an attractive opportunity. I believe for those who don't have any gambling license, or any type of business registration, they are not paying any taxes. However, without gambling license, it would take time for the site to earn credibility from the gambling community.

These are two types of taxes. In case of casinos, they needs to pay the corporate tax, while in case of the gamblers, they are required to pay income tax. Tax withholding is usually done in case of large winnings and the threshold may vary from country to country. Personally I don't support taxing the gamblers, as it amounts to double taxation. And many of the countries (especially those in the European Union) don't levy a tax on the winnings. On the other hand, in the US the gamblers are required to pay tax on their winning amount.

But things are never that simple, you need to understand that there are going to be consequences for increasing taxes to very high levels, and without a doubt one of those consequences is that many casinos are not going to be able to keep themselves operating and they are going to close down their doors especially after they were forced to keep their doors closed because of the pandemic, and this means that many illegal casinos are going to appear that do not really care about anything except making profits which will accelerate somewhat the rate at which the virus moves among that population as no preventive measures are taken in those casinos.

They'll know when the tax is agreed excessive and they can't survive anymore, if that's the purpose of the government for raising the tax rate to an unreasonable rate, then most probably no casinos will last and the country will become a gambling free country. However, on the other hand, they also need to understand that they are letting go of revenue they could potentially collect, so if they can let go of that, the changes still favor the government or the country.

I read somewhere that some casinos in Las Vegas charge over 10% house edge in most of their games and most likely they pay the taxes from those rather than the customer losing them but I'm not sure about it, Can someone explain what criteria the government will use while taxing the casinos.
Will casinos are paying the taxes only from the winnings from their customers but not on their casino's losing bets
Or every bet made in the casino will be taxed.

For sure it would be  in over all revenue and wouldnt matter if its a losing or winning bet because it is just  too nonsense or would  really be a big work to be done if they would one it individually.
Just like on how traditional business would be taxed out where it would always matter in overall revenue.I havent seen that gamblers been taxed individually but rather the house itself
will really be setting some House edge change or something like that and we know that gambling business is really a profitable one and really sustainable.
Taxation is normal though.

Gambling is personal choice and those countries which are banning it are infringing on personal liberty. These sort of bans result from a stone-aged mentality by the governments where they believe that they have a right to dictate the personal lives of their subjects. More liberal countries have moved to regulation, and this has proven to be mutually beneficial for all the sides. On the other hand, in more restrictive countries, we are witnessing governments losing tax revenue, and gamblers getting prosecuted.

Banning gambling and other gambling activities is one of the reasons why underground gambling is existing. We all know that it will be hard for the government to control people from gambling and they will always find ways to do it even in an illlegal way. I guess gambling taxation would be enough to control it rather than stopping it.

Even if the government will regulate gambling, there are still gambling operators who will choose to operate illegally as they don't want to pay taxes. Imagine how much they'll pay to the government because usually taxes on gambling are high, so with illegal casinos, they can maximize their profit.

There are gambling facilitators who will continue to run illegally, I get your point, the amount that they're getting from this
Illegal gambling house is really huge, enough for them to have a luxurious life. They will risk for the sake of money.


Paying taxes is really a pain in the ass. If you don't have that much patrons, you are just bringing money to the government with a lesser amount of income, that's one of those many reasons illegal gamblers still facilitate outside.

I never placed any bets in local casinos but from what I have heard about those casinos is that Cops go there every now and then to collect their bribes from the casino.
And I haven't heard about any percent of the profit they collect per individual but I'm sure it's pretty hard to keep the record of every bet with the gambler.

The house that the casino has is 4%.

We will never know how much they'll collect as what they are doing is illegal, it's against the law so they'll never make it public.


Do you mean the house edge? I think 4% is too high, no gambler would survive in that high house edge in the long run, if I play a game with that kind of house edge, I would just convince myself that I'm just having fun to lose.

Nowadays it is not even necessary to visit these illegal gambling dens, if you wish to gamble in a country where it is banned. Air travel has become extremely cheap and getting a visa is much easier. Anyone who want to gable can just catch a flight to Macau or Morocco and visit the casinos there. The catch is that if somehow you win a very big amount, then you need to think twice before reporting that to the tax authorities back home. Because you are not supposed to indulge in gambling.

I guess it's just normal to give taxes because we know that gambling is one of the fastest earning company there are a lot of people would like to earn money and try their luck and it's on favour with the gambling platforms and casino their users or players enjoy the game at the same time they are earning a lot it's better to become fair for the government because they are a large producer of money. Some of them now are doing charity works or another none organisational donation for some instances lower their taxes too so they can still get the profit.

Everyone has to pay their taxes there is no denial with that but they are asking too much taxes from the total profits since casinos are also under the risk of losing at any time if they are not managing their finance and maximum amount a user can get.

We are obliged to pay up tax because we know on how important it is for the economy but imposing or asking too much shouldnt really be that tolerated.It would be understandable if there would be some
rise up on tax percentage but at least it should really be that considerable so that there would be no problems to arise or make out some complaints. Economic state or development will always
vary on how the government been handling it out and making use of those taxes on the right way and wont really be corrupted or would go into their own personal pockets.

The problem is they can't complain about it as gambling is not really a necessity that people should do or take. It's just an entertainment and the government has all the right to impose whatever taxes they want, or worse to ban it.

That's the thing, actually in the Philippines, when the government increases the taxes on liquor and Tobacco, people did not complain as they know it's harmful to their health, the government calls it as a SIN TAX, and it really helps the government to generate more revenue through these industries.

That is not true. The profit margins in gambling industry is quite low, and the house edge is very rarely greater than 2% in most of the casinos. On top of that, the taxes are much higher when compared to any other sector. And then, there is always a chance of losing money due to fraud or robbery. My opinion is that the government should be reasonable in taxing the casinos. If the tax levels go up by too much, then the business will shift to underground and the government may lose revenue (and there will be job losses as well).

It is very normal after all they generate enough money from gamblers so giving some percentage to the government who still secure and provide the light for their business shouldn't look like something absurd. Gambling industry is making more money compared to some other industry because people of all class try their luck to see if the could win some tangible amount and only 30% if not less gets lucky enough and the rest end up losing their fortune.

The fact is many people lose their money in gambling games. If the government wants to the tax, they need to investigate how much the casino can earn in one day and the next weeks. Maybe that needs some time to know the result but that is worth doing because the government will have valid data with their income to send a message to the gambling owner. If they do not follow the government, the government will easy to close their business temporarily.

That is an interesting question, the players are charged taxes on their gambling winnings so if for example you were to win the lottery then you need to pay a certain percentage of that prize money to the government, however I really do not think the taxes charged to the casino works like that, I really think they are taxed like any other business with the difference that the taxes they have to pay are higher as governments give it sin taxes similar to what happens with alcohol and cigarettes.