Is taxing gamblers meant to raise revenue or discourage gambling?

[Botnake]

By nature, businesses are taxable, so it makes sense that casinos should be taxed. But in some countries, they also tax individual gambling winnings. That got me thinking, what’s the real purpose behind that? Most of us gamblers are overall losers anyway, so what impact does taxing the winnings really have?

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

[cryptoaddictchie]

By nature, businesses are taxable, so it makes sense that casinos should be taxed. But in some countries, they also tax individual gambling winnings. That got me thinking, what’s the real purpose behind that? Most of us gamblers are overall losers anyway, so what impact does taxing the winnings really have?

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

Thats the rule. Here in our country, theres a tax for winning P10,000 above on slots and other casino games and deducted 20% when you convert into cash. Yeah the sad part is when you lose you dont given money, they only taxing winning gains on casino and dont mind if you keep losing cause honestly its just business.

This is one business youll like to have as we all knew that theres a lot of gamblers everywhere.

[Agbamoni]

Gambling industry is huge one and government always want to regulate every means where money flows. Casino tax gambler so they can pay their taxes to the government, which is the main reason. However, this revenue often funds public services like healthcare, education, infrastructure, or even addiction treatment, but we all know how it is in some countries. The government use the money gotten from casinos that has comply for personal benefit.

[stompix]

We pay VAT on bread and milk, is that meant to discourage people from eating food?
If you pay taxes on your stock revenues, on the income from renting a house, or from any other activity, why would anyone be exempt from paying any kind of profits, gambling or selling lemonade?

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether

The highest tax rate casinos face anywhere in this world is in Macau, so, the obvious answer is NO!

[DubemIfedigbo001]

We know these things so well that trades are meant to generate revenue to the government of any nation. As long as it's has to do with taxing net profit, then it has to do with revenue. When I might consider it a discouraging effect it's when the government taxes every winning a gambler records. Then taxing gamblers even when they're in a net loss can somehow discourage them to continue, but I doubt it's even an effective approach.

The government has their way of discouraging gamblers by restricting the services of casinos in their countries as we can see in North Korea, China, Kosovo, Bahrain, Afghanistan among others where gambling is prohibited

[Russlenat]

If there’s a minimum threshold before your gambling winnings get taxed, then small-time bets really aren’t a concern. But honestly, isn’t the government just squeezing us dry? They keep piling on rules as if we’d uncovered some secret formula to beat the house. Why can’t they let us pocket 100% of our wins? After all, we always end up back at the table, and for sure we’ll lose again anyway. The government has become way too heavy-handed. It’s just not cool anymore.

[purple_sparkles]

I think this is just another way for the government to get deeper into the pockets of its citizens. All this is presented, as always, under the guise of concern for the well-being of the people.But in reality, this is just another way to rip off more money that politicians then conveniently launder for their own personal gain.

[Die_empty]

By nature, businesses are taxable, so it makes sense that casinos should be taxed. But in some countries, they also tax individual gambling winnings. That got me thinking, what’s the real purpose behind that? Most of us gamblers are overall losers anyway, so what impact does taxing the winnings really have?

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

Both of them could be the reason. Revenue from gambling could be so massive that the government will want to make money from taxes. Income from gambling contributes massively to the development of some countries.

Just like other economic control tools like tariffs, the government can also discourage gambling among its citizens through taxes. When the government senses that gambling is having an adverse effect on the citizens, taxes can be imposed to discourage gaming.

[Dunamisx]

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

The intention of the government in taking task is to source for revenue and they would rather prefer more people going into gambling so that they can earn more from both the gamblers and the gambling casinos, they are making money from it and they won't want to stop this taxation.

But coming to the other side of it, gamblers are paying for tax they are taking risk to play a bet, I don't think all of them will be paying this task, because there's no enough reason why they should be task for being a gambler, either they win or lose.

[Maslate]

I don't think all of them will be paying this task, because there's no enough reason why they should be task for being a gambler, either they win or lose.

It really comes down to how the government rolls out the law. If they enforce it strictly, gamblers will have no choice but to pay up.. nobody wants to end up in jail for skipping taxes. That’s the harsh truth, so whether we play or not is our call. But from what I’ve seen, casinos are springing up everywhere and people keep going back, so clearly they couldn’t care less about those tax rules.

[giammangiato]

In my country, winnings are taxed and for a few years they have also increased the percentage rate.
From 1 October 2017, winnings up to 500 euros are taxed at 8% and for winnings over 500 euros they are taxed at 12%.
I don't think the purpose is to deter, but rather I think it is a way to have higher revenues from the State.
Obviously this situation varies from country to country, I don't think it's fair, you have to be incredibly lucky to get a good win and then see that taxed too!

[Finestream]

The government will benefit from this taxation law. But this never discourages gamblers because they will simply think that paying a certain percentage is just a small amount if they win big.

But in this situation, only gamblers face losses and pay everything the government asks for. In general, the gambler plays a big role in the growing gambling industry and contributes a lot to the government's revenue.

Not all gamblers are aware of this. Simply, they don't care about it because in their minds, it is to gamble and win.

[Lakai01]

I don't think the purpose is to deter, but rather I think it is a way to have higher revenues from the State.
Obviously this situation varies from country to country, I don't think it's fair, you have to be incredibly lucky to get a good win and then see that taxed too!

In my opinion, there are the following reasons for levying taxes on gambling:

• Additional income for public services like you said
• It helps to control and monitor gambling activities (think of monitoring via paid taxes)
• Funds from taxes can address gambling-related issues like addiction

So there is definitely a steering effect through taxes on gambling, even if these are probably negligible for the individual as long as the taxes are low.

[Hewlet]

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

Primarily, the money that comes from taxation is used to solve the needs in the region. Either it's a tax that's collected from the gamblers, business men or one that's payed when you purchase an item in terms of value added tax, they are all collected for the sake of being used to sort out the needs in the society. If we can't conclude that because the government tax businesses that they wants businesses to fold up then there's no reason whatever why we should conclude that the reason for taxing gamblers is to stop gambling.

If the government really wants to be strict on the establishment of gambling platforms in her nation, there are a lot of easy ways outside of taxation that will still work effectively. If the increase the amount that's expected to be paid before registration of a casino is allowed to the rate that most casinos can't afford to start up business, that's going to affect most casino and lead to a drop in the number of gambling activities that thrives.

[Churchillvv]

By nature, businesses are taxable, so it makes sense that casinos should be taxed. But in some countries, they also tax individual gambling winnings. That got me thinking, what’s the real purpose behind that? Most of us gamblers are overall losers anyway, so what impact does taxing the winnings really have?

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

In some countries gambling is a culture and so taxing when makes a huge part of their national revenue, if you how much exactly governments or nationals that tax gamblers generate yearly you will see the need to tax them if you're in the government position. It could discourage gamblers but when it comes to how much they make from gambling it becomes very difficult to quit hence the taxing continues.

[Hatchy]

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

I guess they may have a specific amount of winning that a gambler might get to before trying to tax him or in some countries they just tax you so long your are gambling.  In my country it's not like that as a good number of youths gambles on sport and online. The government raley even care about the countrys condition not talk more about gambling. Though I think they have little idea or interest. Because there's no government that would not want to take money from an industry as large as gambling...

[Ruttoshi]

You should know that government by all means wants to tax everything that we do with money, I am not surprised if they tax you for gambling. I don't think that if you lose, you will be taxed but if you win and wants to withdraw your win, you can pay for VAT.

I don't think that they are taxing gamblers in order to discourage them from gambling but the government believes that it's their right to get money from you through tax. it's your duties to pay tax. It has been the tradition of government to put tax on the citizens.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

My answer is No, it's not meant to discourage gamblers and I doubt it wouldn't discourage them because the tax is not heavy, but I am not really in support of taxing gamblers because gambling is not a source of income and perhaps that salary you are spending on gambling have already been taxed before you were paid and the casino itself are already paying tax to the government.

[Taskford]

By nature, businesses are taxable, so it makes sense that casinos should be taxed. But in some countries, they also tax individual gambling winnings. That got me thinking, what’s the real purpose behind that? Most of us gamblers are overall losers anyway, so what impact does taxing the winnings really have?

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

Taxation would never discourage gambler since if they use to engage with this activity on daily basis for sure that they would just ignore it and think about later on that its normal.

Gambler will remain as a gambler and for sure they play despite of those taxes ask by government to them.

But this would add up revenue for the regulators or government and they can earn lots of money especially that gambling is huge industry which they can generate millions from those operators or maybe even on players.

[Cointxz]

By nature, businesses are taxable, so it makes sense that casinos should be taxed. But in some countries, they also tax individual gambling winnings. That got me thinking, what’s the real purpose behind that? Most of us gamblers are overall losers anyway, so what impact does taxing the winnings really have?

Would it actually boost government revenue, or could it backfire and discourage people from gambling altogether, knowing it’s already hard to win and when they finally do, they still have to pay taxes?

Discouraging gambler to gamble is just a side purpose while getting extra revenue is the main purpose of this taxation at least if I will consider my country will do this law due to corrupt government official here.

I knew some countries that forbid their citizens to gamble on their casino to make them more productive at work. I think on country like this a taxation on gambling profit is use to discourage gamblers to gamble.

It’s a case to case basis.