Zimbabwe Votes and Backs 10% Tax on Sports Betting Winnings

[stompix]

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I think passing a law is the easy part, but enforcing it is a whole different story. IMO, the biggest issue in poorer countries is the lack of proper implementation. Sure, they can pass this law, but there’s no guarantee it’ll actually work. Gamblers will always find loopholes or ways to avoid complying while making sure they don’t get caught for tax evasion.

It's actually pretty simple for gambling locations, physical ones.
No matter how undeveloped the country is all those have to have electronic cashiers for the payouts, the government will simply tax 10% on the winnings, which are pretty easily detailed in accounting.

Some countries in Europe have done the same decades ago, and if Romania can do that of all the EU, I don't see why anyone couldn't, the bar for this achievement is pretty low already.

[Mate2237]

This is really a strange move by Zimbabwe because I don't really see the reason for government to start taxing winning coming from gambling because I don't see the rational behind it except Zimbabwean authorities have has made Gambling as a profession for their citizens to engage in because gambling is  one thing that is still accepting popularity and acceptance levels is still low as most countries in the world has not yet made gambling related activities free for their citizens to engage in this is solely because of the risk involved which is not economical to the citizens and invariably affects the entire country too

So for an country to start taxing winning coming from gambling related activities means that, that state is trying to encourage their citizens to gamble and has made gambling a profession and this is not a good one because looking at the long term effects of gambling to that country it will not be good for them

[Kavelj22]

Based on the website statement it is overall within the players wins so still the casinos are the one who are paying with the tax of 10%, now if the casino makes a change so the players will not win on the game its up to them but imagine if the player discover that they arent getting fair to their players still consider them as part of the lose of their summary of earnings. Actually that's quite low instead here in the Philippines afaik they are having a 30% tax to the casino just to operate here in the country.

Zimbabwe is a developing country and poverty is very high, so it is not surprising that a large number of citizens resort to gambling. The authorities have certainly noticed this and want to benefit from it in any way possible. The tax is imposed to finance the poor budget and not to deter people from gambling as some may think.

10% does not seem like a large percentage to me as a tax on gambling profits. I am also from an African country and taxes on gambling profits can exceed 50% if the amount exceeds a certain limit in addition to a fixed law that imposes 25% taxes on all profits from bets, competitions, television games, etc.
It is not surprising that this percentage is preliminary, awaiting an increase later if satisfactory results are achieved. I doubt that any country imposes such low taxes on gambling activities.

[Nwada001]

I think they are just finding ways to get money, and maybe they have found out that the citizens they have are really into gambling. I hope they find ways to collect it properly and ensure that this citizen understands why they are doing it, and I hope that it is not used for corrupt practices.

Any government that's not tapping into the gambling industry is missing out on a major source of revenue that they could have taxed from because money is flowing in and out of that sector.
 
Now that they have made it open, the citizens now know what they are getting into and have to remit at the end of every winning what the government and its agencies do with the money.

Now it depends on those controlling it; some of it will go into good use while some will definitely be used for something that can't be accounted for. Corruption is never far away from government officials.

[freedomgo]

This is really a strange move by Zimbabwe because I don't really see the reason for government to start taxing winning coming from gambling because I don't see the rational behind it except Zimbabwean authorities have has made Gambling as a profession for their citizens ...

When they passed the law, the main goal was simply to increase tax collection. It doesn’t matter if you’re winning or losing, a professional gambler, or just a casual one, what matters is that whenever you win, you’ll have to pay 10% of your winnings to the government, even if you’re losing overall. With this additional tax, their revenue will grow while the taxes on casinos remain the same, and who knows, those taxes might even go up in the future.

[dimonstration]

I think they are just finding ways to get money, and maybe they have found out that the citizens they have are really into gambling. I hope they find ways to collect it properly and ensure that this citizen understands why they are doing it, and I hope that it is not used for corrupt practices.

Any government that's not tapping into the gambling industry is missing out on a major source of revenue that they could have taxed from because money is flowing in and out of that sector.
 
Now that they have made it open, the citizens now know what they are getting into and have to remit at the end of every winning what the government and its agencies do with the money.

Now it depends on those controlling it; some of it will go into good use while some will definitely be used for something that can't be accounted for. Corruption is never far away from government officials.

They should taxed the operator not the gambler since they are paying the operator services and there’s no assurance that they are in profit after a win while the operator itself has sure win from gamblers.

Government should taxed business establishments not the gamblers directly if they really want to tapped to the real source of income for them. I will never bet on a establishment that gets 10% of my win since it’s a terrible house edge that is hard to win.

In my country, Casino is the one being tax and not the gambler since gambler is just using their service for entertainment purposes only. Casino is not a money generator.

[Botnake]

In my country, Casino is the one being tax and not the gambler since gambler is just using their service for entertainment purposes only. Casino is not a money generator.

That’s normal, especially in countries where gambling is regulated, there’s always tax involved. That’s how it originally was in Zimbabwe too, where gamblers didn’t have to pay tax. But with this new law, they’ve added a tax for gamblers, even though casinos are already taxed.

We can’t really call it greed because there are many countries where gambling winnings are taxable, like in the US and, I believe, Europe. It’s just how the system works in regulated markets.