Taxes and regulations kill the odds

[Hydrogen]

Normally, we might discuss whether revenues are better handled by free markets or governments. That would be a typical go to framework for discussing topics like taxes. It seems those social norms have largely been dispensed with. The discussion framework that appears most acceptable today, is one resembling social darwinism. Where people do what they think they can get away with, and hopefully its survival of the fittest which will hopefully benefit human evolution and society. If states want to tax casinos at 90% profits, its ok. The fittest will survive. While the unfittest may not be so fortunate. And I guess, that means everyone will be better off that way?

I don't know how else to rationalize the mentality most have, where they appear to believe 90% taxes are acceptable enough to become normalized. Someone please explain it to me, if you can.

[hyudien]

Lol, 90% tax. That's the opposite in some countries I guess as they'll only get a small percentage of the total income while Germany charges 90%, that only means one thing, it's an indirect way to impose a gambling ban, operators will not survive with that kind of tax rate.

The tax hem in Germany is quite large, around 90%. Quite burdensome and also not very profitable for the casino there. Quite an unfair policy for the sector in the gambling business. Get it later 90% can be reduced, considering the remaining 10% means dividing the results to the casino manager will be very small. I just need to know how much is the income of casinos in Germany in 1 year? if it's not worth it, maybe the casinos located in Germany will eventually go bankrupt.

[AicecreaME]

Taxes make a huge impact on betting earnings in certain countries while other are relatively free of that burden. Many central European countries such as Germany, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, etc... charge directly to the casinos and other charge to the earnings. For example Denmark will get nearly 70% of the Casino earnings.

https://www.taxback.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-gambling-tax-rates-around-the-world

As you can read, Germany is the most astringent jurisdiction, with 90% of casino earning being paid as tax! The message cannot be more clear: if you want money, go work! You could argue that Italy - tax free -  is also sending a message: go gamble, there is not much more to do  On-line is also different per country and some are tax-free if it is online and other make no difference.

I researched this because I hear that a professional poker player from Spain was about to move to Andorra, which is something that may people do when they earn big.

This post is misleading. The moment I read it, I immediately did research to check if the information you provided are true. Apparently, it is not accurate. In Germany, the tax obligations a casino has to pay to the government for every online poker and casino game is 19%. Sports betting has a higher tax rate which is 24%, and lottery games are subjected to the stake made which is 20%. This is pretty much a decent tax if I must say because this is the usual tax of those countries that have gambling as a legal activity. In Italy, it isn't really tax-free. The government of Italy taxes the casinos for 20% for their games of skill and 22% for sports betting. The two countries mentioned, Germany and Italy, have a usual taxation rate. Hence, the casino operators will still make a profit. Meanwhile, in Denmark, it is really true that the tax is high but not as high as 70%. The gambling tax in Denmark is around 41% for gaming machines and 45% for land-based casinos. Back then, they have only 20% tax obligations but their government decided to raise the tax to the operators by 40% to both. Hence, they are paying double the tax now compared to before.

Sources:

Denmark Gambling Tax

Italy Gambling Tax

Germany Gambling Tax

[Fortify]

Taxes make a huge impact on betting earnings in certain countries while other are relatively free of that burden. Many central European countries such as Germany, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, etc... charge directly to the casinos and other charge to the earnings. For example Denmark will get nearly 70% of the Casino earnings.

https://www.taxback.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-gambling-tax-rates-around-the-world

As you can read, Germany is the most astringent jurisdiction, with 90% of casino earning being paid as tax! The message cannot be more clear: if you want money, go work! You could argue that Italy - tax free -  is also sending a message: go gamble, there is not much more to do  On-line is also different per country and some are tax-free if it is online and other make no difference.

I researched this because I hear that a professional poker player from Spain was about to move to Andorra, which is something that may people do when they earn big.

I think you need to take into consideration at what point the tax is taken. I don't understand why they have the UK listed as a 50% gambling tax when all winnings from gambling are tax free, it makes me wonder how accurate the rest of the article really is - especially when I'd expect the tax rate to also be much higher in the US (from anecdotal evidence I've seen in the past). This seems to mix up personal tax rates without any regard for specific exclusions and categorizations in law. Be careful with how much you trust this data, but some of it might be true and why not? Gambling is a very unproductive pursuit for society and doesn't create anything of value - it just feeds the profits of a few corporations and that's where it should really get taxed heaviest.

[magneto]

Gambling tax literally doesn't make sense to me.

You're taxing a zero or often negative sum game in which people enter with the expectation of losing. Why in the world would anyone want to tax gambling earnings in that regard?

Apart from just sheer greed, I really can't think of another reason. And you're right, this distorts the odds substantially.

[dothebeats]

Gambling taxes are just absurd. Most of the time, people lose money on gambling, and the government still makes money anyways. When gamblers make money, they are required to give a part of their winnings to the government, and they can't say no otherwise they will be subject to pay more for not complying. Then again, if taxes go towards something useful, and can be of service to the masses, then there's no real reason to object taxation.

[samcrypto]

Gambling taxes are just absurd. Most of the time, people lose money on gambling, and the government still makes money anyways. When gamblers make money, they are required to give a part of their winnings to the government, and they can't say no otherwise they will be subject to pay more for not complying. Then again, if taxes go towards something useful, and can be of service to the masses, then there's no real reason to object taxation.

Taxation has a good concept its just that corrupt politicians are ruining its purpose that’s why many are avoiding it at all cost and same thing with gambling. You earn this money out of luck and paying small tax for me is fine but if its too big that can cover all my winnings, I guess its not right. Some gamblers want to live on a tax free nation and they can do this as long as they have the money, this is not new anyway people love to gamble but don’t want to pay any taxes.

[DoublerHunter]

Gambling taxes are just absurd. Most of the time, people lose money on gambling, and the government still makes money anyways. When gamblers make money, they are required to give a part of their winnings to the government, and they can't say no otherwise they will be subject to pay more for not complying. Then again, if taxes go towards something useful, and can be of service to the masses, then there's no real reason to object taxation.

^ Sounds funny to me when gamblers make money we are entitled to share our earnings to the government and also casino give their taxes to the government, that is why the government cannot be easy to vanish these gambling businesses because they know it gives a lot of benefits to them. Taxes and regulations which make our country survive and be developed so I think if you have contributed to the development of your country that is not a problem but there is something wrong if you pay too much high taxes.

[stadus]

Tax is normal as it's the lifeblood of the government, however, too much tax is not gonna make the business survive, hence it will not help progress the gambling industry in a certain country. Honestly, I have no idea that some countries charge huge taxes on the gambling business, that is unreasonable IMO and I think there's no way a gambling site would be able to survive since they also have big operational expenses.

When taxes are unreasonable, regulation is expected to be the same, so it will not only kill the odds, it will kill the business on its entirety.

[johhnyUA]

Taxes make a huge impact on betting earnings in certain countries while other are relatively free of that burden. Many central European countries such as Germany, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, etc... charge directly to the casinos and other charge to the earnings. For example Denmark will get nearly 70% of the Casino earnings.

The main reason to raise taxes up to 80-90 % of income is because gambling is business with low risk and low investments. So, if you invest 1 million of dollars in casino you will get your investment back very fast and after that - only profits. So with low taxes in such countries like Germany, people would invest only in gambling rather than something useful 

I researched this because I hear that a professional poker player from Spain was about to move to Andorra, which is something that may people do when they earn big.

Typical story.