UK Will Tax Offshore Online Gambling

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The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, made two points very clear in his budget speech on March 21. The first point was that the UK would define online gambling as taking place at the point of consumption. The second point was that offshore online gambling operators catering to customers in the UK will be subject to secondary licensing and taxation.

The intent of the government in implementing these proposals has been in the public domain for well over a year since the Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched a review of the existing gambling law. But it has always been shrouded with discussion, debate and hearings, leaving room for the tiniest of doubt whether the government will actually go ahead. Now the inclusion in the budget speech has given this intent a finality that is beyond doubt.

But the Chancellor's intent is not merely revenue generation for the economy. He genuinely wants to bring back the British online gambling operators that have left for greener jurisdictions offshore and set up as level a playing field as is possible. In his speech to the House of Commons, Osborne said, "Ninety per cent of online gambling consumed by our citizens is now supplied from outside the UK. And the remaining UK operations are under pressure to leave. This is clearly not fair and not a sensible way to support jobs in Britain." Therefore the Chancellor will introduce double taxation relief for remote gambling so that taxes paid in offshore jurisdictions can be set off against British taxes.

The Treasury budget documents have estimated the additional revenues that will be generated by the proposals envisaged. There will be addition of £ 55 million in 2014-15, addition of £ 240 million in 2015-16 and addition of £ 270 million in 2016-17. These figures indicate that the total implementation of the new regime is likely to take upwards of two years.

The Treasury document also stated that this change to a point-of-consumption tax regime was in line with the practice being established in several other European countries. It would broaden the British tax base and provide a fairer basis for competition between the UK and the overseas online gambling operators. Another point that will be mitigating for the online gambling industry is that the government is willing to consult them on the details of the consumption based taxation regime. The expectation is that the tax on online gambling will be at 15% effective from December 2014. The entire industry will now be waiting for details of taxation proposals and secondary licensing procedures that the government initially puts forward.

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