[C O L U M N I S T ]
WHAT WILL BE THE
IMPACT OF THE
UK P.O.C. TAX?
Peter Marcus, the former COO of William Hill Online and UK
managing director of Betfair, looks at the potential impact of
the UK point of consumption tax on the gaming industry
S
o now we know the UK
government wants to
introduce the point of
consumption
(POC)
tax on gaming at 15%
and implement it by December 2014.
As someone who has moved two
sportsbooks over to Gibraltar, you may
be surprised by my initial response. I
personally do not have a major issue
paying gross gaming taxation on sports
betting and gaming revenue on two
conditions.
Firstly, that it’s fair and everyone
pays it. The main reason that so many
companies moved their operations and
management to Gibraltar was that they
could not continue to pay 15% when
others paid around 1%.
Secondly, the rate set and rules
attached allows the industry to continue
to prosper and, most importantly, gives
good value to its end users. We need to
learn from France where the ridiculous
level of taxation has encouraged,
according to ARJEL, signi?cant levels
of non-licensed betting and br