UK to Introduce Offshore Online Gambling Tax

The budget speech on March 21 clarified the UK’s stance on offshore online gambling and is set to entice offshore operators back to Britain.

UK Chancellor George Osborne said the UK will consider online gambling as taking place at the point of consumption. He said that offshore online gambling operators with a UK customer base will be subject to secondary licensing and taxation, effectively a double taxation.

It is expected the online gambling tax, which will level the playing field between UK and overseas online gambling operators, will be at 15% from December 2014.

It is estimated that the change to point-of-consumption taxation will create an additional £55million in revenues in 2014-2015, rising sharply to £270million by 2016-2017.

The proposed plans are also intended to entice offshore British operators back to British shores.

“Ninety percent of online gambling by UK citizens now takes place offshore. And the remaining UK operations are under pressure to leave,” said Osborne. “This is clearly not fair and does not support jobs in Britain.”