Not only the US gambling industry, but also the European gambling market is currently experiencing various setbacks and difficulties. The French gambling issues are a vivid example that the events, happened in the last few years will continue to have an impact on the gaming industry and especially on the poker activities in the country.
The United Kingdom has just imposed a new gambling law that makes every gambling provider, operating within the Kingdom, to pay high taxes, which made many operators quit the UK market and concentrate their efforts in popularizing the products and services elsewhere.
Belgium is another European country that is going to accompany those two, mentioned above, and experience a steady decline in the gambling activities due to the fact that the local authorities are now modifying one of the laws. If it passes, the Belgium players will be obliged to pay huge taxes equal to almost 75% of the winnings.
According to a recent publication in a reputable Belgium media, the aim of the local authorities is making sure that the law is strict enough and every poker player is paying the required tax for every sum they win.
If accepted, the new law will have a clause that requires the players pay high taxes and the manner in which they are calculated will also be modified.
Formerly, Belgium was among the countries that didn’t regard the gambling activities as something that could contribute to the annual revenue. Players were not supposed to pay anything because winning a reward from gambling activities was considered to be based on luck, rather than on any special skills. However, things might change soon. The statement, the Belgium authorities published, says that anyone who is keen on playing poker professionally and dedicates a great part of their time on improving their skills should be required to pay a tax just like every other employed Belgium citizen.
A promising financial expert hurried up to make it clear that those who play for fun and eventually win a particular amount of money won’t be affected by the implementing of the new law. As a matter of fact it is predominantly aimed at monitoring the income of the professional poker players. Even if the suggestion of a tax, equal to 75% of the total winnings is accepted, those who play professionally but are not among the widely recognized players, also have nothing to worry about.
The poker players have earned huge amounts of money during the years by winning various tournaments and they haven’t paid a singe cent to the Government so now the top priority of the authorities is monitoring players’ income by making them fill in reports, containing the sum of money they have earned. Hiding their income is not recommended because it will reflect on the calculations and may also cause them legal issues.
The players can get tax breaks by reporting travelling and living expenses and even their losses.
Soon more information will be given about this delicate matter.
