Home / Poker News March 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – UK Gambling Tax System Changes
The Poker Grapevine – UK Gambling Tax System Changes
Posted by: Jo Martin - Fri, 2012-03-23 07:06
The UK has thus far overlooked offshore online gambling operators’ profits made from UK-based customers, a legal stance which resulted in the migration of large online betting and gambling companies like William Hill and Ladbrokes to places like Gibraltar. The new tax system proposed by Chancellor George Osborne, will force all betting operators, regardless of where they’re based, to pay taxes on revenue generated from UK-based players.
According to the new regulation, taxes will be enforced at the point of consumption, which means that offshore operators will lose the edges given them by their locations. The move is aimed at encouraging online gambling operators to return to the UK, thus providing jobs and revenue for UK-based employees. According to Chancellor Osborne, around 90% of the money spent by UK customers goes offshore, and operators who are still in the country are under pressure to go offshore as well.
The new measure will in no way affect UK-based online poker players, who do not pay any taxes on their winnings.
In other news: the upcoming
Party Poker Premier League V has managed to put together quite a solid lineup: players like Vanessa Selbst, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Erik Seidel, Tony G will take part, together with Sam Trickett and Luke Schwartz. Things just got a little bit more interesting the other day though when PokerStars pro Bertrand Grospellier joined the lineup too. The hellish starting field will cough up a $125k buy-in, to take part in the April 4 Premier League V bout.
This will be Grospellier’s first ever Premier League participation.
In still other news: Jonathan Duhamel has successfully preserved his Global Poker Index PoY lead this week. Duhamel’s GPI score remained unchanged through the week, as his 595 points were more than enough to keep him on top. Eric Cajelais is currently second with 342 points, followed by Bruno Lopes in 3rd, with 337.
