Many online gambling sites have used the territory of Gibraltar as a safe haven from traditional British gambling tax laws. From there they provide services for many UK clients who want to enjoy online gambling tax free. But all that is about is to change, and the effects will be felt by both the online casino sites and their customers. The British government is enforcing a new tax rate for Gibraltar, particularly targeting online gambling sites in Gibraltar.
This plan was created by British Prime Minister David Cameron. The tax hike affects all bets being placed using online casinos based out of Gibraltar. The hike takes the tax from the previous one percent up to 15 percent. This huge increase has managed to upset officials in Gibraltar who feel that it will hurt their economy.
According to one industry analyst, Gibraltar has become a focal point for online gambling, even as the industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds around the world. He says the tax hike could cause irreversible damage to Gibraltar, possibly even crippling its economy. Many of the companies that have come to Gibraltar and set up shop there may very well pack up and go somewhere else where they can become more profitable. That is going to affect the Gibraltar economy in a drastic way; the future consequences of this action could have a huge effect that will be felt for years to come.
The new law contains more than just a tax rate hike. It also requires that any gambling operators who use Gibraltar as their base of operations acquire a British gambling license. That is in addition to the Gibraltar gambling license they would already have to have. This only applies if they want to take bets from clients in Great Britain, which of course they would, as many of their customers would come from the mother country.
While Gibraltar legislators are allowed to create their own laws regulating the way the online gambling industry is run in their territory, they also have to make these laws in accordance with British law. That means that they are subject to whatever the British government has to say on the matter, regardless of what laws they have made themselves.
Online gambling has become a major industry in the UK, and that area of the world is one of the largest for the industry. Many operators have used Gibraltar for years as a means to reach British customers without paying higher British taxes. Now that won’t be possible. Many of those operators in Gibraltar came there from the Caribbean, where legislation there had forced them out.
The new taxing structure in Gibraltar has already made plenty of waves there, prompting many Gibraltar officials to come forward and speak out on the matter. Fabian Picardo, one of Gibraltar’s head officials, said that increase taxes and bans have been implemented before. He believes that the increased taxes would not only hurt Gibraltar but the UK as well. He may be referring to the mass exodus of online gambling companies that occurs in every area when new legislation, particularly increased taxes, is implemented.
While the UK is working to balance out the different online and land-based gambling industries, the tax hikes are not the most popular method they have utilized so far. In recent years, the online part of the gambling industry has overtaken the land-based sector. This change has caused more than a few casino owners to stir up change in the way the different sectors of the industry are regulated.