Online Casinos in Greece to Strive under Government’s Fixed 35% Tax

A new study on online gambling tax commissioned by the Greece government has been released, urging Greece to stick to the fixed 35% tax on the revenues of all online sportsbook sites and online casinos in Greece.

In mid of 2016, Greek Syriza government approved to enforce online gambling laws that stipulate the imposition of a fixed 35% Gross Gaming Revenue duty on licensed online betting operators. The new law replaced the old scalable 30-35% online gambling duty, in the aim to bring in an estimated €54 million extra in tax revenue per year. In 2017, US consulting firm Grant Thornton was commissioned by the Greece government to make a study on Greece’s online gambling market. The study has been released and it urges the government to stick to the 35% tax on the revenues of all online sportsbooks and online casinos in Greece.

Grant Thornton Report

The study recommends Greece government to introduce a flat rate of 35% tax on all licensed online operators. It also recommends Greece to offer to types of licenses, including one type that covers purely sports betting and the other license that covers all other gambling verticals including all online casinos in Greece.

The two types of licenses are expected to be valid for seven-year periods, and would require upfront payment of €500k plus annual top-ups of €50k. According to online gambling news the licensees would have to establish servers in Greece to ensure monitoring of Greek punters’ activity. Therefore the law is not only related to generating tax revenue but also to protect cyber players in Greece.

Will online Casinos in Greece hit 7% growth by the end of 2018?

Grant Thornton report maintains that Greece’s online gambling market is expected to enjoy annual growth of 7%, resulting in a net return to the state of €1.3b over the next 12 years. Would such estimates come to light by the end of 2018? Maybe, but what do we know for sure is that the already 24 licensed online gambling operators in Greece will not proliferate with the presence of such tax law, so if you are in Greece and play at King Billy Casino for instance as one of the best online casinos in Greece, stay so because Greece does not plan to bring any new bidders to the market.