Betting Tax In Grenada Arrives With New Gaming Commission

Whilst Bet365 continues to revolutionize the world of online gambling small physical nations are finding the process a little more tricky to get right and there’s every chance the new betting tax in Grenada will have both positive and negative effects as their new Gaming Commission puts it into effect.

Betting Tax In Grenada

• Set at 30%
• Machines & Facilities
• No Under-18s

Gambling laws and regulations differ vastly across the planet. There are nations like the UK where it is part and parcel of the legal landscape and has been since the sixties, nations like the US that haven’t quite made up their mind about it all, and there are numerous places where for cultural, historical or political reasons there’s no gambling at all. The shift between these, and the other statuses on the gambling legality spectrum can be fraught as the newly imposed betting tax in Grenada demonstrates.

The parliament may well have passed its Gaming Commission Bill last May ostensibly to prevent under age gambling by those not yet mature enough to make a reasoned choice in the matter, however the new year has brought in some new harsh realities for those operating gambling businesses on the island and the betting tax in Grenada may well yet reshape the nature of the market itself, Grenadian gambling laws seemingly designed far more towards revenue generation than child protection.

30% Betting Tax In Grenada For 2017

The new betting tax in Grenada is set at 30%, a massive gash in the profit margins of any business, levied on both locations offering gambling activities and upon individual gambling machines the proliferation of which was much touted as a reason for this need to regulate. Oliver Joseph the Economic & Planning Affairs Minister on the island was adamant that “We must bring some order into this gaming sector.”Making it sound like there were a danger Grenada might sink if they didn’t.

Mr Oliver Joseph plans to organize gambling (Photo: ccpittj.org)

“These one arm bandits as they are called can be found all over the place.” Joseph made clear at the cabinet news conference, “but now we are putting the structures in place to control that sector.” 

Part of which is the appointment of a Gaming Commission that will oversee the sector and ensure the new betting tax in Grenada is applied properly across the sector from machines to tables, from those that like to wager on cards to those that like to bet on sports in Grenada, they’ll control the whole lot. 

Bet365 Not Subject To Grenadian Gaming Taxes

Grenadian Gambling Commission

• Power over licenses
• Recommendations to the Minister
• Sets conditions and terms
• Can revoke or suspend at whim

Obviously the choice of chairman for this august body is an important one. The new betting tax in Grenada stands to make the government a lot of money so you’d hope they’d put in place someone who understands the gambling business. It would be a forlorn hope. Unfortunately for the sector the man they’ve chosen is Franklin Redhead an Assistant Commissioner of Police and so you can pretty much guarantee a clash of cultures between the industry and the body meant to control it in due course.

With the power to revoke or refuse licenses, make recommendations to the Minister and set conditions upon licenses as they see fit, this is no toothless tiger that has been set loose upon the islands gambling community, the 30% betting tax in Grenada might just be the start of their problems with a former copper setting the agenda and who knows what might get splashed across the Grenadian gambling news headlines next and staying at home to use Bet365 instead might be a wise choice for islanders.