Thought you guys might be interested in that:





You can download the PDF with the overview here.

Thanks a lot, very useful indeed.

This seems to only be of interest to potential operators, not players. Player protections across the different regulatory environments vary hugely, and I think that a review of player protections would be a much more interesting area of review and analysis.

Hi Josem,

Thank you for your feedback and suggestion!
This idea was born based on player questions in my own community which is undergoing regulation. Yes, it should be of interest to operators as well. Putting this one together was quite complicated of a task as there are daily changes, and things are in progress.

In the future, I will do further reviews and analysis of some markets based on our users' needs, and should there be any clear information on various subjects that may be of interest - we will look into them when possible. For the time being, it is very difficult to follow up on so many countries. Player protection would be useful to look at, and important, but most of the laws, as you see above, are undergoing changes, or just being born. As we know, online gambling and regulation is a new topic across not one European government.

Thanks for your time and do not hesitate to forward me any suggestions!

Regards,
Dessi

Great compilation!

One question: what's a "Turnover" tax?

Hey PokerXanadu,

Thanks for your comment! It is a bad move to tax operators in the online gambling industry (and not only) on their turnover.

AS Wiki says:

A turnover tax is similar to a sales tax or a VAT, with the difference that it taxes intermediate and possibly capital goods.
In gambling, its like each bet placed would be taxed for the operator.

VS

Net profit or net revenue is a measure of the profitability of a venture after accounting for all costs. In accounting, net profit is equal to the gross profit minus overheads minus interest payable for a given time period.

I think you understand what it means for the gambling companies.

this overview is great. tyvm guys.
maybe mods could xpost this to the legislation forum or even incorporate it in a sticky over there (most stickies seem very US-focused so far)

@xanadu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnover_tax

Dessi,

Thanks for the explanation of the Turnover Tax. It sounds like what players often call a Rake Tax - that is, a percentage of each pot is taken in tax, just like a rake. Definitely the worst type of taxation overall, and one which is most likely to cause rake hikes for players.

Law in Belgium is passed

Hi PokerXanadu,

You are welcome! Yes, your comment is correct, is not going to have a positive impact on the rake players will be charged.

Hi BE-001,

I wrote it in progress, as operators are not following the law simply because it is contrary to EU law and changes will happen. At the moment it is as if no law is in place. That is why I put it In progress and added the contrary to EU law comment.

Regards,
Dessi

Ok, being based in Germany, I have recently discovered this and a similar thread about legislation. I am not very happy to see the tone that the 15 other states are taking. I can only hope it get bogged down in EU banter, at least for a while.

Of course, a simple letting it be as it has been would be great, although the wind seems to be blowing in another direction.

Question:

How is Austria on online poker?

Oh yea, and thanks for posting this!

The countries where it's taxed on gross profits and not on net profits have got to be kidding. I can only imagine the regulator giggling while he wrote the bill.

Also, I coulda sworn all the segregated frenchmen were sweating it away in pokerstars.fr getting taxed on revenues not on profits too, but if that pdf says it ain't so, then I must be wrong...

Spain I have read is on gross revenue too, but apparently people just declare on net and actually there are reports of it working out because the administration is notoriously self-aware of its own lunacies and understands the subdepartment of the other department that wrote the bill went bonkers.

Hi puzzle,

I think you are correct about France, it was a mistake.

About Spain, it all seems to be on hold. If anyone from Spain/in Spain is interested, all latest info and discussions are here: http://es.pokerstrategy.com/forum/bo...p?boardid=1692.

Regards,
Dessi

I might be wrong but not sure any of the operators are based in the UK anyway, to advertise here I beleive they have to be regulated in one of the "White List" countries.

The legislation is in place for operators to be uk based and licenced but then they announced the tax rate and that put everyone off.

Hi daveymck,

This is correct. The operators are based in Offshore places, which is totally OK by the current law.

i dont understand this. i am in the UK. pokerstars is based somewhere else. so does the 15% tax apply to them on all rake taken from UK players?

or would it only apply if pokerstars was a UK firm?

yeah france has profits on revenue which is pretty absurd- its not segregated tho and neither will spain- has it been put on hold beyond june 31st now? Also as an eu citizen if i play in spain would i have to pay taxes? I assume no?

No the tax doesnt apply which is why they all stayed offshore when the legislation came into place. Same with all the bookies as well the online stuff is all based offshore to avoid taxation (although I think Betfair might be uk based). Not sure if they pay corporation tax on the offshore profits but susepct they dont.

Hi,

thank you for this thread.

Does anyone know if it is legal to play online poker in the Republic of Ireland (so it is not in the UK) on the .com poker rooms?

Are there any upcoming changes expected?

legal and taxfree afaik

What's with all the countries who didn't make the list?

Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic. You got way smaller countries/markets covered.

If you call it Europe overview make it complete.

totally legal, no taxes- government has spoken on the general topic of offshore online gambling and how it is a problem, but don`t expect legislation for a few years, if ever. The fact there are a bunch of irish bookmakers based offshore mite help slow it down even more :P

Come on, the guy has put a lot of work into this. Make the suggestion to include the countries sure, but no need to be so critical - he doesn't owe you anything.

Im moving back to Argentina if Spain regulation happens this june.